Reticence Saga: Severed Web
by Cydra
Summary: A long-delayed reunion has unforeseen consequences. An old friend has become an unforgiving villain. And it will take the help of a particular web-spinner before things can get back to normal, or normal as they ever get.
1. Friendly Neighborhood

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 1: Friendly Neighborhood**

**(Author's note: this fic is set in the Ultimate Spider-Man verse, which shares the same universe as Hulk and the Agents of SMASH and Avengers Assemble seasons 1-4. Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther's Quest are in a separate universe they share with Marvel's Spider-Man. It's the best and only way those shows can fit together.)**

After an unexpectedly long delay on the nanite world, it was far past time for the _Bladestorm_ to rendezvous with Megan to see how her search for the cure to the Virk virus was going.

"Captain, we're approaching the wormhole. It appears to be instable. It's...shrunk. We're not getting through that," said a tech, Matt seeing the wormhole, before the light caught something.

"Aria, what is that? 34 by 772 to the east of the hole," he said, squinting.

"Scanning...enhancing..." said Aria. There was a bit of silence before she said, "It's the remains of a cruiser."

"What?" said Matt, the cruiser appearing in magnification.

"Oh God, it's ours," Kala said in horror, covering her mouth. The cruiser itself was only the front, the neat cut a sign that the wormhole had shrunk mid travel

"If it's the front half, does that mean they were trying to escape?" asked Chris.

"Confirmed. The ship has suffered complete life support failure. No survivors," said Aria, pausing before saying, "I'm detecting a mana matrix on the ship, designed to boost paranoia."

"Meaning someone cast a panic curse?" asked Kala.

"Who I don't know. It doesn't match any known matrix on file, definitely not for that dimension," said Aria.

"Are the computer records still accessible?" asked Matt.

"Partial records only...all I can gather is that Megan evacuated before the ship tried to enter the wormhole," said Aria, pausing, "This is strange...the ships internal clock is out of alignment by over 2 terran years."

"What? Nobody said anything about time-" started Matt before pausing. "Delete that part," he said.

"Sir?" said Aria.

Matt snapped, "When NegaMorph finds out, he'll tear that dimension to ribbons to find who did this."

"First, he'll tear _you_ to ribbons for sending Megan there in the first place," said Chloe pointedly.

"That too...but I'm more worried about the return of General NegaMorph, coming to that dimension over there," snapped Matt, before saying, "Kala, get Chloe...and Silvana. I don't wanna leave her alone in her current state. We'll take a shuttle and grab Megan," said Matt.

"I better go with you," said Chris, "Things tend to get...off track when you Shar-Khan are left by yourself."

"And how would your presence mitigate any of that?" asked Matt, "And if me and Kala and Silvana all go Virk, and Chloe goes feral, what would you do?"

Chris paused before snapping, "I'm gonna protect Chloe."

There was a long pause before Matt said, "I can respect that."

Chris grinned and said, "Us future brothers-in-law gotta watch out for each other."

"Don't push it," growled Matt.

He looked at Kala, "Fit Silvana with...the Khan suit Mina was meant to have. She can make better use. Then meet me at Bay 2."

"Ok, but how are we going to make sure NegaMorph doesn't follow?" asked Kala.

"Don't tell him about the dilation, we'll have a good 6 months inside," said Matt.

"I'm not sure how long I can keep NegaMorph distracted," said Aria, "I'm not even certain about the time relativity at this point."

"Just give us as long as you can," said Chris.

* * *

Silvana was sitting sadly in her quarters. She could still remember seeing her family fly off with that traitorous purple, before she looked up as the door opened, a drone bringing in a box. "Orders from the commander: this is your equipment. Report to Bay 2 as soon as possible."

"Equipment? But-" started Silvana.

"Report to Bay 2 as soon as possible," repeated the drone.

Silvana watched the drone leave the box and hover out, the young Khan walking over to the box and opening it to see an armor from her father's stories; the metallic dragon head of a Shar-Khan.

Silvana wasn't sure about wearing the armor. Then again, she was still getting used to wearing clothes at all. But this soft human form that seems to be her current default did need extra protection.

Aria said behind her, "Atlantean tech, it'll work with all your forms..." causing Silvana to yelp.

"Don't do that," said Silvana.

"Sorry, there's also an ion blade in there," said Aria, Silvana taking the aforementioned blade out and activating it, recognizing it as the one from the dreamscape. "Standard procedure on long voyages is to record dreams confidentially to spot space fever. I thought you'd like to see a familiar blade," said Aria kindly.

"I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with it," said Silvana, "I think I'd cut my own hand off."

"You'll be fine," said Aria, a holographic hand petting her on the shoulder, "Now I believe you have a mission with Mr. Lynch and Miss Kala. Bay 2."

"Ok, ok," said Silvana. She started taking the armor out of the box before turning to Aria and asked, "Um, do you mind?"

"I'm an AI, not a peeping tom," said Aria, rolling her eyes.

* * *

Sometime later, Silvana walked towards the landing bay. The armor felt rather tight on her. Matt was making final checks to a section of the shuttle when he heard her. "Looking good, Silv. Erm, you don't need to wear it all the time. Fold it up and let's go," he said.

"Fold what up?" asked Silvana.

"The armor...here," said Matt, tapping the gem on the neck, the armor beginning to segment and fold up into a neck clasp.

"Uh, I think I'll just keep it on for a little longer," said Silvana, "Get used to it and all."

"You did put clothes on under the armor, right?" asked Chloe.

Silvana, who had hit the gem again, said, "Noneofyourbusinessgoingtomyroomontheshipbye." before running up the ramp, Matt pausing when he saw she had a small backpack with a trouser leg sticking out. "Oooooh…" he said weakly.

"Remind me, how old is she again?" asked Kala.

"How old are you in actual years?" countered Chris.

"Point," said Kala.

Matt rubbed his hands. "Ok, let's fly," he said.

* * *

The shuttle shot out of the wormhole and into a field of debris, the center of which was the back of the cruiser. "Least that confirms they tried to flee. Let's see here...course takes them to...not Smilodia, not Smilodia...oh thank God, Earth," Matt said.

"Smilodia...why does that sound familiar?" asked Chloe to herself.

"Because your pet is a smilodon?" asked Chris.

There was a happy yip at that before the aforementioned experiment-hybrid saber tooth kit ran up. "Mama," she said.

"I thought Coldladh wasn't living in her anymore," said Matt.

"She isn't, but apparently she lived in her long enough to leave some residual traces," said Chloe.

Chloe turned to Matt. "Are you ok? Not mad?" she asked before noticing that the controls in Matt's hands were cracking.

"Ok, I am going to ask this only once: who else is smuggling anything?" asked Matt.

"Got nothing," said Chris.

"I've got nothing," said Kala.

"I have nothing on. I mean, nothing to say," said Silvana quickly.

"Silvana...put some clothes on under your armor," said Matt icily, checking the first stop, "Knowhere...I know that at least." he said.

"You know nowhere?" asked Kala.

Matt twitched before putting the ship into full throttle. "NOT GOING THERE!" he snapped.

"I'm so glad I already used the bathroom before this trip," said Chris dryly.

* * *

Knowhere itself was a gigantic metallic head. "If someone starts acting up, you are more then allowed to bitchslap them..." Matt said, before turning on the com, "Knowhere control, this is KnightShift 414 requesting landing pad."

"Request granted, but crew will be under watch while in Knowhere," came the reply.

Matt looked confused, "Confirmed, control...just need a pad. Be advised under NSC statutes we will defend ourselves if attacked."

"Identify 'NSC'," came the reply.

Matt looked confused "Never mind...but we reserve the rights to self-defense," he said

"Acknowledged," came the reply.

"I should have asked Aria to specifically identify this dimension," muttered Matt.

* * *

The market himself was a little more organized then he expected. "Definitely not the Knowhere I know," he said, before saying to the others, "Split up. Chris, guard the ship and eat anyone trying to steal it. Consider it protein. Everyone else, hit the bars and gathering places. She stopped me so we look here."

"Matt, we can't take her into a bar," said Chloe, pointing at Silvana.

"We're not going to order her a drink," said Matt, "And everyone keep an eye out for-" He stopped to grab a wrist that was reaching into his pocket, squeezed it until it popped and its owner screamed, before shoving it away. "Thieves," continued Matt.

"He broke Jix's hand, get him!" snapped several creatures, drawing plasma blasters and firing, the shots pausing in midair, Matt, his eyes solid blue, turning to look at them.

"I just got here. Be wise and leave," he said, the shots vanishing as they ran out of energy.

The lowlifes quickly scattered at that. "I've always wondered, do you feed off of energy?" asked Silvana.

"A little...it tastes like lime," said Matt, the group walking into the town, the lowlifes backing up as they walked, maybe caused Silvana had chosen to be in hybrid form.

"Not nearly as filling as you think it would be," said Chloe, "But then again, our elements are forms of energy. Maybe more solid elements are better food substitutes."

"Hmm..." said Silvana, grabbing a passerby's data pad and taking a bite. "Hmm...tastes nice," she said.

"Silvana, you can't just steal things. Even here," said Matt.

"Ok...but if we need gear his ship has a load of illegal ionic pulse blasters...how did I know that?" said Silvana in confusion, the guy snapping "Hey..." before aiming his blaster at her.

"I can pay you back," said Silvana.

"How?" demanded the guy.

Silvana hacked and coughed before suddenly spitting several coins into her hand. "Will this cover it?" she asked.

The guy looked suspicious, taking a coin and licking it, "This...this is pure platinum."

"Really? I was trying to make silver," said Silvana.

"This is better. I can fuel more with this. Shame you won't be arou-" began the goon before he was dragged up by a vine.

Silvana looked up to see what looked like one of the Growths from the Ancient Grove, though less colorful. "Matt...why is there a golem up there?" she said in a small voice, her hand going to her blade till Matt grabbed her wrist.

"Easy, that's Groot...which means a pyromaniac racoon's aiming a quadrifle at us right now," he said.

"Who you callin' a raccoon?" snapped a voice. Matt looked down to see the raccoon he was talking about, though wearing a blue uniform.

"You're not my Rocket," said Matt in confusion.

"Well, there ain't any others," said Rocket, "There's no one in the universe like me, except me."

"I know...Silvana?" said Matt, Silvana, who was behind Rocket saying in a polite voice "Please don't shoot my teacher." Matt facepalming, having expected something a bit more forceful.

"Kid, just stand over to the side before you get hurt," said Rocket.

Silvana's eyes narrowed at that. "I said, leave us alone. We have done nothing to earn such anger..."

"Everyone calm down," said Kala, "There's no reason for anyone to get worked up." She walked over to Rocket. "Ok...why are you attacking us? We just arrived and all we are here to do is find a friend," she snapped disapprovingly.

"Oh, probably just because I called him a raccoon," said Matt.

Rocket growled before Kala snapped "ENOUGH!" several flammable materials nearby exploding, her eyes glowing red hot. "Apologize to the furry bounty hunter, bushi bu...NOW!" she snapped.

"What did she call me?" asked Raccoon, more confusion than anger.

"No, she meant me," said Matt, "Sorry I called you 'raccoon', I should have said 'raccoon-like alien'."

Rocket glared, though seemed calmer, before an orange aura picked him up, Kala, her hand glowing the same color said, "Don't think you're off the hook. How dare you attack us like that? Matt hasn't even done anything stupid yet."

Matt saying "Hey..."

"For crying out loud, lady. I didn't even pull the trigger," snapped Rocket.

"Good. Silvana, just in case, eat his gun," said Kala, Matt and Rocket saying in unison "Not Quaddy..."

"I am Groot?" asked Groot.

"Yeah, we are getting off-track," said Rocket.

"Uh, can I be put down now?" asked the goon Groot was holding.

Groot dropped him in a dumpster at that. "Bounty?" said Matt, walking up and doing a scan of his own, to see the guy was known to the NSC too, as a looter of restricted tech from NSC wrecks "Hmm, I might need to have a word with this guy," said Matt.

"That's our krutackin' bounty," snapped Rocket.

Matt said, "And he's yours. I just need to ask him something." before lifting the guy out and showing a headshot of Megan, "You sell anything to her?"

The guy glared. "Flarg off," he snapped, Matt sighing before grabbing one of the alien's finger's and squeezing till it cracked.

"I don't have time to be nice. You have...7 more fingers. then I move on to other bodyparts...and when I run out, I'll use a medishot to heal you so we can start all over again," he muttered in the alien's ear.

"Ok, ok, I'll talk!" yelped the alien.

"Huh, cracked like an egg," said Chloe.

"Yeah, sold her a ship. She wanted to go to some mudball in the Sol system," snapped the alien.

"You know, we should have checked Earth first," said Kala, "It would have saved us some time."

"Trust me, there's lotsa places that shuttle coulda gone," said Matt, before he turned to the alien, "Now...you're gonna give the Guardians the shuttle that she was on. I know the _Milano_ always needs parts and some high-end NSC parts would help them for months. If you don't, next time I'll not be as nice...ok?" The creep factor was upped by the fact that through the entire conversation he'd been smiling happily.

"Uh, right, sure," said the alien nervously.

"Good, now I'm also gonna hand you over to him," said Matt, tossing the alien at Rocket's feet, "He's all yours."

"Ok, you plannin' on making trouble here yourself?" asked Rocket.

"It looks like business here is done, unless someone wants a drink or something," said Matt.

Silvana bowed her head before Rocket, "Thank you, small warrior. You have helped us find the path to our wayward friend."

"Ah, forget about it," said Rocket dismissively.

After they were gone, Matt said, "Let's go...now. Before the psychic dog finds us."

"Psychic dog?" asked Chloe incredulously.

"Yeah...psychic Russian dog," said Matt conspiratorially.

"Cosmo is a dog?" asked Silvana, "I wouldn't have guessed."

Matt paused before he said, "We're leaving..."

* * *

"So, we're just heading for Earth?" asked Chris.

"Yeah...trust me, this is a busy galaxy," said Matt, checking the controls before turning on the com. "Megan, you there? I know it's been a long time. We're coming to take you home," he said on an open frequency.

However, there was no reply at all. "Damn, maybe her com's out," Matt said to himself.

"Or she might not be wanting to talk to us," said Chris grimly.

"I'll try Gary's. Gary, pick up...pick up, dammit," said Matt.

"Nothing," said Chloe, "They could be anywhere on Earth."

"Not just anywhere," said Kala, "I'm willing to bet they're in New York City."

"Why there?" asked Matt.

"One, because Megan used to live there. Two, there's an NSC base there. And three, _everything_ happens in New York," said Kala.

"Kala, you're a genius," said Matt, kissing Kala on the cheek...

* * *

"Ok, everyone remember where we parked," said Matt, the group walking off the ship, which was hidden in a cave in the woods close to the city.

"You do realize New York is the biggest and most populated city on Earth, right?" asked Chloe.

"Yeah...and only one's part NegaMorph or part gargoyle," said Matt, checking his scanner only for it to explode in sparks. "Unless there's a jammer in place..." he said

"Or there are so many crazy weirdos that it can't pick them out," said Chloe.

"Maybe. Let's head to the base. Hopefully the team there didn't side with McNeil," said Matt.

* * *

For once, the NSC base was not in the warehouse district. In fact, it wasn't that far from Central Park.

"Comet Coffee...guess the budget ran out before the name was invented," muttered Matt, walking up to the door, a section of the doorframe opening silently to reveal a hand scanner.

Kala peered inside the place itself, noticing the thick amount of dust. "It looks like no one's been here in years," she said.

"It's probably only 'open' when a team's in residence. Look...says 'between management'," said Chris, pointing to a small sign on the door, Matt scanning his hand before the door clicked open.

"Ok, everybody in," said Matt. The group walked in, Matt noticing some scorching on the wall before drawing his blaster. "Guys..." he said quietly, pointing to the blaster mark. "Sweep out...teams of two..." he said slowly, heading for behind the counter.

"There are five of us," pointed out Silvana.

"Snowbell counts, that makes six," said Chloe.

Silvana said in a quiet voice, "They're dead...I can hear their last moments."

"Is that a psychic imprint thing or is this place haunted?" asked Kala.

"I think it's the imprint...the team here was killed...eaten by the darkness..." said Silvana, shaking like a leaf.

"Boy, I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means," said Chloe, peering nervously into the shadows.

"Ok, Chris, go downstairs, find the self-repair systems and com room. The rest of us need to secure the rest of this-" began Matt before the shop front windows blew in.

"Take cover!" yelled Matt.

The group dived down, Silvana peering up. "Some ogres are stealing green paper from a vehicle," she said.

"Oh, not directed at us," said Matt before looking up to see who these 'ogres' were.

Several rather well-muscled humans in colorful outfits were in the middle of a mess. One, holding a crowbar, taking out several federal bags...a heist. "Hmm...hey, Silvana. It's time for your first lesson..."

* * *

Wrecker laughed as he tore the last of the safe boxes out. "Pay day, boys," he said in a Brooklyn accent with a grin.

"And no dumb Spider-Jerk here to mess it up this time," said Bulldozer.

"Yeah, that Doc Ock's makin' trouble uptown and with the Avengers outta town, it's like Christmas," laughed Thunderball.

Wrecker tried to pull the last box out, only for the metal around it to go liquid and pull it back into place.

"What the?" said Wrecker before rubbing his eyes.

The Wrecking Crew turned as they heard a voice say, "Nice one, Silvana. Now see if you can trap one of them." The Crew saw two apparent Inhumans, reptilian with bat wings, walking out of the deserted coffee shop across the street.

"Man, these Inhumans get weirder every day," said Piledriver.

"Who are you calling inhuman?" asked the silver one defensively.

The blue one said calmly, "Hey, that's my apprentice you just insulted, muscle head."

"Well this is her last day on the job," said Thunderball before swinging his wrecking ball at the silver one. However, the ball didn't get close to the silver one and actually went back with more than enough force to hit Thunderball in the head and throw him backwards.

"Yeah, metal against an ore-mancer. Bravo, dumbass," said Matt.

"Why you-" started Bulldozer, running at Silvana. But Silvana just held up a hand and Bulldozer found he couldn't get any closer to her, no matter how much he pushed.

Piledriver charged next, pausing just in time when the other had a plasma blade ignited in his path. "I'd wait your turn," said the Inhuman, "You're probably able to take a lot of blunt force, but how are you with cutting edges?"

Piledriver glared before aiming a punch, the Inhuman leaping nimbly out the way. "Gotta be faster," taunted the blue one. Piledriver just kept swinging at the blue dragon. "Boy, you're not just slow at moving," he said.

Piledriver glared, tearing a bumper off a car and swinging at the draconic Inhuman, who slashed at the other end, the end falling into slices into a shower of sparks. "If you give up now, all that'll be hurt is your pride," said the blue dragon.

Piledriver glared before taking another swipe, the drake spitting blue flame that melted the bumper before a second blast melted the asphalt at Piledriver's feet, the road resolidifying rapidly. "Now think about what you've done," chided the blue dragon.

The silver dragon meanwhile was being beaten back, Wrecker's crowbar proving immune to her powers. "What's wrong, lady? Can't make my crowbar grab me?" he sneered. Silvana was trying to take control of it, but the crowbar's magic made it resistant.

Matt, who was now fighting Bulldozer, yelled, "Make some metal of your own. There's plenty to go around." before he headbutted Bulldozer and threw him into a car hard enough to almost bend it at a right angle.

Silvana looked around before making a lamppost bend down and whack Wrecker. "Hey, you think that'll stop me?" Wrecker snapped.

Silvana's eyes narrowing and causing the armored car to lift up and slam into him. "I think that will," she said sweetly.

"Nice work," said Matt.

Bulldozer just growled and tried to ram Silvana. However, Silvana lifted him up by his helmet and shook him hard enough that he eventually fell out of it. "That helmet doesn't give me my powers," said Bulldozer, "It just braces my neck." With that, he charged at Silvana again.

Silvana took a bite of the helmet, chewing it for a second before spitting what looked like quicksilver onto Bulldozer's legs, the metal solidifying in seconds.

"What the-" said Bulldozer before he fell over.

"Ok, not bad for your first supervillain fight," said Matt.

Thunderball was getting back onto his feet but looking pretty wobbly. Silvana turned to look at Thunderball, before saying in an echoing voice, "Boy, do I feel tired."

"Boy, do I feel tirrrr..." repeated Thunderball before falling over.

"And that makes four. Well done, young padawan," said Matt cheerfully, looking at Piledriver, who was recovering. "Unless you wanna take us both on," he said with a grin.

"Uh..." said Piledriver hesitantly.

"That's what I thought," said Matt.

"So what do we do with them now?" asked Silvana.

Matt turned to look as a few police cruisers and a SWAT van came into view, a news copter overhead. The police, as soon as they saw the two, aimed their guns, Matt calling "No, wait! We're on your side! We stopped these creeps hitting the armored van!"

One of the drivers, who had been thrown nearby, said weakly, "It's true. I saw it."

"So who are you supposed to be?" asked a police lieutenant.

Matt paused, his usual smartarsery failing him.

However, Silvana was able to come up with something on the fly. "I'm Metalurga," she said, "And this is my mentor, Lazard."

"Wait wha-ow, I mean yes," said Matt, yelping as Silvana made a hubcap slap his ankle.

However, the police didn't look entirely convinced. Just then, Chloe, Kala, and Chris, wearing their street clothes, came out of the coffee shop. "Oh, you stopped those awful robbers," said Kala, "You're so brave."

Chloe walked up to the cops. "Yeah, these guys smashed our shop front. We were worried we'd be next before they turned up," she said, shaking Matt's hand before hissing, "There will be words later."

"Oh, there will be," said Matt, giving Silvana a brief glare.

* * *

Later, in the 'basement' of the coffee shop...

"You're all over the city news." snapped Chloe angrily, Silvana wincing, looking tearful.

"And as one of the worst names ever thought of. Seriously? Lazard?" snapped Matt.

"You...didn't seem like a 'Korono'..." said Silvana timidly.

Matt twitched. "Korono sounds smegging awesome..." he snapped angrily, before Kala banged his and Chloe's heads together.

"She's a hatchling. You're scaring her," she snapped before walking up to Silvana. "It's ok. Say sorry, guys," she said, snarling at the Lynches.

"Sorry..." muttered Chloe and Matt.

"Well, I don't think Matt could have matched up to 'Korono'," said Chris, "He's way too scrawny. Maybe when he gets a big upgrade."

Matt glared and said, "I will get you back for this."

"Well, we're all over the news. Some blowhard called Jameson's singing our praises and hoping we go after a local hero called Spider-Man," snapped Chloe, turning on a holoviewer on the wall.

"Did you say Spider-Man?" asked Matt.

"Just watch," snapped Chloe, tuning into the Bugle news.

"A new pair of heroes has appeared in New York: Metalurga and Lazard. The two of them made their debut stopping an armored car heist by the Wrecking Crew. Where are they from? What are their intentions? No one knows for certain except this: they couldn't be worse than that menace Spider-Man and hopefully they'll put an end to his web-slinging hoodlum acts soon," said a mustached man.

"Oh nuts...him," muttered Matt to himself.

"Huh, I don't remember J. Jonah Jameson being quite that loud," said Chris.

"That's because comic books don't make sounds," said Kala pointedly.

"He's a blowhard," said Matt, sighing. "Look, we just lay low. Silvana, can you turn human?" he asked.

Silvana concentrating, but nothing happening "She's too shaken up right now," said Kala, "Just let her calm down and she'll be fine."

"Ok, we can come up with a plan if not. Tomorrow, we have a job. We got a coffee shop. We'll have dozens of people to overhear about Megan," said Matt.

"Matt, you can't really be thinking about running a coffee shop," said Chloe.

"Why not? We're looking for a teenager and teenagers are drawn to cafes like birds to corn," said Matt.

Chloe paused before Kala said, "It's not like we don't know how to. The computer does it all...and we need a cover."

"This sounds like something from a sit-com..." muttered Chloe.

"Somehow, I think it'll be more anime," said Chris.

* * *

Matt glared, scratching the neck clasp that was his folded-away armor before getting a passable smile. "Welcome to Comet Coffee," he said, as someone came up.

"Uh, yeah, can I get a mocha latte?" asked the guy in line.

"You want foam with that?" asked Matt.

"Uh, sure, say, I hear you got some sorta gimmick staff," said the guy, looking around.

"She's a little busy at the moment, but I'm sure she'll be out soon," said Matt, "I'll go check on her and I'll be back with your drink."

Matt walked into the back room, hitting the sound masker that made anyone outside only hear noises from a kitchen. "Tell me you can turn back," he said, to Silvana, a medi drone saying "There is no human DNA prevalent..."

"I can't go out like this," said Silvana, sounding embarrassed.

"Look, all they'll think is that you're a superhero fan. Put on a pair of glasses and no one will think you're an actual hero. It works better than you think," said Matt.

"No, I mean, I can't go out dressed like this," said Silvana, indicating her uniform.

"It's not that bad," said Matt.

"The shirt's too small," said Silvana.

"Look, if anyone gives you trouble, tell me," said Matt kindly, saying, "You're one of us. You got this."

"Thank you," said Silvana, hugging Matt. Matt hadn't really paid much attention to Silvana's figure, but now he was aware there was a lot of padding between them.

"Ok...now go out there and be your own super fan," said Matt, Silvana sighing, flexing her wings before taking the order the replimat had formed, before walking out with a smile. "Chris was right, this is more like an anime," Matt muttered to himself.

Matt walked out to the counter again before noticing an older man taking an order from Kala. "Eyes up, I think the fuzz is here..." he muttered.

"You sure?" asked Chris, "Doesn't seem like the type."

"Look how he moves: pure training...and I can smell a pulse blaster in an ankle holster," muttered Matt, his hand slipping under the desk to where a blaster folded out of a hatch as the guy came up. "Anything else, sir?" he asked.

"Pardon me, but where did find your...employee?" asked the guy.

"Worked here for ages. She's practically part of the family," said Matt finding himself meaning it.

"Ages, you say. And yet your shop has only opened today," said the man.

"Yeah...we always seemed to get bad luck and we wanted to fix it ourselves, not use Damage Control," said Matt.

The guy didn't seem convinced and looked at Silvana. "That is a rather convincing costume she's wearing," he said.

"Yeah...she's a huuuuge fan of the new heroes so she made a costume," said Matt, adding, "It's her special talent."

"You don't see cosplayers such as her every day," said the man.

"She's a big fan. She's almost like a daughter to me. She...lost her parents and we took her in," said Matt, a half-truth.

"Isn't she a bit old to be 'taken in'?" asked the agent.

"She's younger then she looks," said Matt, his voice getting a dangerous tone and for some reason envisioning biting this pest's head off.

"Is there a problem, sir?" asked Kala, approaching the counter.

"I was just asking, that girl seems a little old to be adopted," said the man calmly, Kala's smile seeming to fossilize while the warmth bled from her eyes.

"Are you a social worker?" asked Kala in a faux-friendly tone.

"No...I just came in here for a coffee," said the man calmly.

Matt said, "Well that'll be 3.50...to take away, I assume?"

"I'm not in a rush," said the man.

"Unless you have a badge to show, I don't think you have a reason to stick around," said Matt. The man's eyes narrowed before he dropped the requested money down and walked out, Matt sighing. "Crap...the alien hunters," he said.

"He seemed more like a basic creep," said Kala.

"He also had a blaster in an ankle holster," said Matt.

"Ok, that makes him a dangerous creep," said Kala.

"Yeah. We need to be smarter. We need to get Silv a holocloak before people work out that's not a costume," said Matt before they heard a surprised squeal.

"Somebody had better have not done what I think they did," said Matt.

Matt and Kala walked out to see a person putting their payment in the tip jar and leaving. They also spotted some high school jocks who Silvana were serving. "Of course, teenaged boys who can't keep their hands to themselves," said Kala, "The scourge of girls everywhere."

Matt walked up. "Silvana, you ok? These guys causing trouble?" he said, glaring at the group.

"I'm fine. I just felt something sharp," said Silvana.

Matt turned to the group. "Did you...pinch her?" he said.

"Who us? We'd never do something like that," said one of the teens.

"Silvana...did it feel like this?" said Matt, gently pinching her on the cheek. Just then, Matt felt the heat rise behind him. "In retrospect, that was stupid," said Matt.

"It's ok, Kala. Matt was just helping me realize that one of these people pinched me," said Silvana with an innocent smile.

Matt's eyes glowed before he turned slowly to look at the kids. "You did what?" he said icily.

"Guys, who's working on the coffee?" asked Chloe, stepping out from the kitchen.

"These guys just cancelled their orders but are insisting on leaving Silv a great tip," said Matt, the group glaring.

"Ok, here's a tip: stop dressing like a fantasy nerd," said one of the teens.

Matt's eyes narrowed. "Get out before I call the police and tell them you groped my waitressssss," he said, his voice slipping into a draconic snakelike hiss.

"Just leave," said Chloe in an annoyed tone.

"Hey, it's not our fault she dresses like that," snapped their leader, poking Chloe with his finger...and regretting it when she grabbed it and promptly broke it from muscle memory.

"Please leave before we call the cops," said Chloe.

"You broke my fin...ger…" he said, before noticing Chloe's eyes were glowing yellow. "You're mutants," he said with worry.

"Oh great. Barely one day in and we have to mindwipe somebody already," said Kala with annoyance.

"Wait, wh-" began one of the goons, as Matt put his mind wipe glove on and flashed them with it.

"You will leave and never come back here..." said Matt as Kala whispered their crime to Silvana who glared and added "and every time you grope someone, you'll punch yourselves in the nuts."

After the teens left, Chloe said, "We're not gonna have many regular customers at this rate."

"Yeah, we gotta get you a holocloak, Silvana." said Matt

* * *

At the Triskelion, Spider-Man and his team were summoned to Fury's office, apparently with a new assignment. "So I here this is supposed to be an undercover job," said Miles, "At least I'll be good at that."

"Yeah, pretty easy to overlook you short guys," said Flash.

"I'm not that short," said Amadeus, "I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet."

"I just hope it's not Damage Control again," said Peter, the group walking into the office, Fury looking up from his computer.

"Ok, this shouldn't be too hard for you," said Fury, "A simple information-gathering mission."

"Recon? That's all?" asked Miles.

"Hope you like coffee. You'll be investigating Comet Coffee, near Central Park. SHIELD has a feeling that the heroes who took down the wrecking crew have a connection to it," said Fury.

"Hey, I think a few of my old pals went there," said Flash.

"Good, it shut down last year when its owners vanished," said Fury, a newspaper cutting showing a trio of men under a missing person's headline.

"Uh huh, well, that's a good way to start off the mission," said Peter casually.

"A few days ago, it reopened and suddenly national files said that these three people never existed," said Fury pointedly.

"You think this is an alien invasion scouting thing?" asked Flash. The others gave him odd looks. "What? It makes sense," said Flash.

"These two caused alot of damage in their battle. The silver one was able to manipulate metal like it was nothing. In the hands of someone like Taskmaster, or Lady NegaMorph, they could be trouble," said Fury

"Sounds more like someone Magneto would be after," said Cho.

"The point is we need to find them before someone more nefarious does," said Fury.

* * *

Syntax Error...Location Jammed...

A showing of the bugle was turned off...by a spike of shadow. "So...they actually came," said a female voice, darkly.

"Well, this is what we've waiting for, right?" asked another voice hopefully.

"Yes...revenge..." said the first voice, the smashed tv crackling before a scaled tail smashed down on it.

* * *

Setting a coffee shop to attract teenagers was working out pretty well. Actually, rather too well. "Ok, that's two lattes, one cappuccino with extra cream, and a green tea," said Matt, twitching from stress.

"Ok, who ordered the vanilla frappe?" called Kala.

"This is insane. We need to be out there looking for Megan," said Matt angrily to himself.

"Megan will come to us. Now hurry up with that bean grinder," said Chloe, "And we better not have run out of biscotti."

Kala looked worried. "Erm...you think she's getting into this too much?" she asked,

"Where are those cookies?!" snapped Chloe.

"Does that answer your question?" asked Chris.

"Ooooh...she's going native," muttered Matt, before the same sense he'd got when the agent had been in the shop went off again...far higher than before. "Kala, make sure Silvana has her holocloak o...oh no," said Matt, as Silvana, in her anthro 'fan disguise', came out to serve some drinks.

"Matt, why is she out looking like that?" asked Kala.

"Well, I told her to put the holocloak on, but I don't think she really understood-" started Matt.

"No, I meant out like that," said Kala, pointing at how Silvana had altered her shirt to have a deeper neckline.

"Oh, her shirt was too tight on her and we probably should have had a bigger one made for her," said Matt. Kala gave him a dubious look, "C'mon, this is a café, not Hooters. Our front's supposed to be a respectable business. Silvana...a word," said Matt, as Kala's glare continued, pulling her behind the scenes.

Kala's dragon hearing picked up a muffled argument and the sound of the replicator, before Silvana came out wearing a more normal shirt and Matt came out with a scratch on his face. "Thanks, Kala," he said, icily.

"No problem," said Kala before noticing four boys walked in. They didn't seem much different from other teenagers, but something was telling her they were more than what they seemed, especially the tallest one.

"Kala?" said Matt, noticing her stare, "You ok?"

"Keep an eye on that big one," said Kala, pointing.

Matt looked at the guy, before tapping his glasses to take a weapon scan...and paling as a red biohazard symbol flashed. His weapon scan also noticed the Asian boy was carrying something in his backpack that gave off a lot of energy.

"Bloody hell. Kala, tell Chloe we have more alien hunters or even aliens themselves. One confirmed goo muncher," Matt said quietly.

"What?" asked Kala.

"Just tell her. She knows what it means," said Matt.

Matt nodded before turning to face Megan, as she had been before she'd been infected with Nega DNA...though also older. "Hello, captain," she said, smugly. Megan was definitely different looking. For one thing, her hair was longer and she was wearing it in dreadlocks. She also had more makeup, with very dark eyeshadow and black lipstick. Matt could see she was taller, but her heavy jacket made it hard to see other differences.

"Megan, you come to leave? Why didn't you answer?" said Matt, saying, "The team here was nuked. We need to leave as soon as poss-"

Then Megan said casually, "I know...you know anyone else with weaponized shadows?"

Matt paused at that, "Megan, I know you've been here a long time-"

"Three years," interrupted Megan, "Three years has it been since I last saw you. The first year, not so bad, got to see the galaxy. But that didn't last."

"Yeah, you got a rep on Knowhere," said Matt, adding "You killed three NSC troopers...why?"

"Because they wanted to call you," said Megan.

"That doesn't make any sense," said Matt.

"Don't you get it? I like it here. I'm my own person here," snarled Megan.

Matt's scan displayed a warning of Virk DNA detected. "Oh no...Megan...you caught it..." he said.

"Caught what? Oh, you mean this?" asked Megan before something grabbed Matt by the leg. Matt didn't look up before stamping hard, Megan biting her lip. "That was uncalled for," she said through gritted teeth.

Matt said, "So was killing three troopers."

Megan waved a hand, "I'm being nice. I'm giving you 2 days to leave. I'm not going with you. This city's mine."

"You're not a protector, are you?" asked Matt.

"Oh, I'm protecting, alright," said Megan, "I'm protecting my territory."

Matt reached down before calling, "I'm sorry, we're closing early today...family emergency." The last two words were said looking at Megan.

"I don't have family," said Megan in a low voice, "I never did."

"You're lucky NegaMorph's on the other side of the dilation," said Matt as most of the civilians walked out.

"Well, isn't that convenient?" asked Megan.

"Yeah, he could beat you...and I can easily beat him...and I'm not alone," said Matt darkly, reaching under casually for the blaster.

Two pairs of arms grabbed Matt's arms at that. "Care to test that?" asked Megan, her eyes turning red as three more appeared on her forehead.

Two things happened at that, firstly Matt hit the panic button, the glass cameras opening up to reveal energy blasters, and secondly, his eyes, and Megan, glowed blue and she was thrown back like a freight train had hit her. Naturally, everyone who wasn't already out was fleeing, except for a select few people.

* * *

Peter jumped aside as the guy at the counter used some sort of psi attack to throw a woman into a wall, as several hatches opened to allow some heavy artillery to fold out. The last of the civilians ran out before a red light flowed around, before focusing on Flash and a voice said something in an alien language, shutters covering the windows and the cannons altering their aim to Flash.

At that point, the symbiote was spreading across Flash, apparently agitated by something. Several of the guns seemed to alter into what were clearly sonic cannons, before their laser sights aimed at Flash, the voice saying gibberish before saying, "Alien symbiote, you are an illegal lifeform, remain still and submit to eradication."

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," said Flash before the symbiote finished forming. Missile launchers extended from Agent Venom's shoulders and shot at the cannons.

A blue field covered the guns before impact, before they began firing yellow blasts. "Alien symbiote, submit to eradication," said the computer again.

The others used the distraction to change into their costumes. They had their hands full, trying to help the woman up, the teller having vanished behind the back doors.

"You ok?" asked Spider-Man, noticing the girl wasn't really older than himself.

"You boys are such gentlemen," she said in a suspiciously smug tone.

Iron Spider said, "Erm...Spider-Man? I'm getting a voice ma-" before there was a clang from outside, the shutter over the door bending inward.

"What was that?" asked Kid-Arachnid.

"Oh, that was my assistant," said the woman politely, her eyes turning reptilian. It was that point that the Web Warriors knew what their spider-senses were really trying to warn them of. "You heroes just had to poke your noses in," sneered the woman, shadows flowing around her and cocooning her.

The dark cocoon lifted up and floated to the middle of the room. Once it was upright, it came apart, revealing the female figure beneath. She wore a black sorceress's robe that had a plunging neckline, a diamond-shaped cut to show off the N-shaped mouth on her stomach and ended in three parts to show off her legs and tails. Of course, the alien features made her more intimidating than enchanting. Lady NegaMorph smirked and said, "All those fights and you still can't recognize me when you see me. Well, I'm going to make sure that mistake won't happen again."

The guns, which had been trying to perforate Agent Venom paused at that, the computer said, "New target...re-assessing...reprioritizing…" before every gun aimed at her.

Just then, Matt came back in. "Ok, Megan, this is for your own-" he started before he saw her.

Her hybrid form was a lot different from when he last saw it. For starters, she had two arms on each side. Her wings and legs were a lot more draconic in shape. Her tail now ended with a small dragon's head that was hissing at him. She only had five eyes in her head and one long pointed ear on each side. "Like my new look?" she asked teasingly.

Matt shrugged. "Hmm...more Nega'ry...this should just annoy you then," said Matt, before sending a plasma orb at her. A blast of shadow shot out of Lady NegaMorph's hand and hit the plasma orb. Matt looked at the group. "Hey, a little help?" he snarled.

"So...who are we supposed to be fighting here?" asked Iron Spider.

"Let's go with the devil we know," said Spider-Man before shooting webs at Lady NegaMorph.

Lady Nega snarled, though she found it hard to split her attention, before smirking, kicking a chair at Matt's legs, knocking him down and causing his plasma blast to slice into the ceiling.

Several more web blasts hit Lady Nega soon after. "You realize you're very outnumbered, right?" asked Iron Spider.

"Oh please, I'm never alone. OH GAAARRYYY!" called Lady Nega, before the blastdoor finally gave way.

Gary didn't seem to be that different, other than being older and bigger. The biggest change was that he was just wearing a pair of grey shorts. Gary rubbed his shoulder and said, "That door was a lot harder to break down than you think." A second later, he was tackled by Venom. "Could you please not be here?" asked Gary, "This is a very personal matter."

"Anyone tell you you're too polite to be a villain?" asked Agent Venom.

"Many times," said Gary with a sigh, before a black beam hit him.

"I don't need you like this, Gary, dear," said Lady Nega.

"Megan, please, not Nightclaw again," said Gary.

"How many times do I have to tell you to use codenames outside the lair?" snapped Lady Nega before zapping him more. His skin turned black as his eyes started glowing red. With a roar, he threw Agent Venom off of him.

Matt yelped, switching to khan form, before sending several blasts at Gary. "Bad gargoyle," he screamed. Nightclaw just roared before picking up a table and throwing it at Matt. "Oh no," muttered Matt before he was knocked through the wall, sliding to a halt in front of his own team. "Megan's in a bad mood," he said dizzily.

"Well she's wrecking my shop," growled Chloe.

"Enough about your damn shop! She's gone insane! GRAB HER BEFORE NEGAMORPH FINDS OUT!" roared Matt in Chloe's face, blowing her hair back.

"Like 'mad with isolation' insane or-" started Chloe.

"Like 'gone Shar-Virk' insane," snapped Matt.

Chloe blinked before she said, "Oh...oh shit..." in a faint voice.

"What's so bad about Shar-Virk?" asked Silvana innocently.

"We'll explain it later," said Matt, "But Megan is not likely to be talked down."

"Enough, we need to go help those heroes," said Kala loftily.

Chris glanced into the room and said, "Yeah, they really need it."

"Kala, Chloe, would you kindly scale and fur up?" Matt said with a bow.

"Doesn't Chloe have a dragon form?" asked Silvana.

"It's stuck under my werewolf curse at the moment. I can do it if I concentrate, but this isn't the time for that," said Chloe, her voice getting slightly guttural as her form shifted to a lupine form. Kala shifted to her dragon form with a brief flash of fire. "Was the fire that necessary?" asked Chloe, a bit annoyed.

"Hey, if I'm going to start a superhero career, it might as well be with style," said Kala.

"Well, you set the carpet on fire," said Chloe.

Kala looked down and said, "Oops."

"Enough. Let's just grab Megan, give her enough tranqs to knock out an elephant and drag her back to the ship," snapped Matt. With that, he headed back into the room, only for Spider-Man to be thrown at him. "Ow..." groaned Matt, the girls looking to see Lady Nega and Gary going toe to toe with the rest of Spider-Man's team.

"Ok, hit them hard and fast, ready?" asked Chloe.

The three charged out at that, Kala tackling Gary from the side while Chloe and Silvana lunged at Megan.

Lady Nega's eyes then started glowing and flashing different colors, causing Chloe and Silvana to stop in their tracks. "Why are you fighting me when you're surrounded by enemies?" Lady Nega said smugly.

Chloe and Silvana turned to look at each other before Chloe snarled and tackled Silvana. "Not each other..." snapped Lady NegaMorph in annoyance before a hail of plasma bolts forced her to shield her face, Matt and wolfed-out Chris firing stun shots at her.

"Stop that!" snapped Lady NegaMorph, throwing up a wall of shadow between them, "Nightclaw, get them!"

Nightclaw, aka Gary, turned to glare at the two before ripping a table up and throwing it at them. This time, Matt was ready and blasted the table before it hit him. Nightclaw just snarled, ripping sections out the wall and furnishings, using them as ammo before his face was webbed and the turrets, what were left, started peppering him

Lady NegaMorph was also finding herself being webbed, which was getting increasingly frustrating for her. "Stun her! For God's sake, stun her!" yelled Matt, struggling with Nightclaw.

Just then, a blast of shadow energy threw everyone backwards, webbing evaporating as it touched it. Lady NegaMorph glared. "Ok, this is boring now. It's too easy. Lady Nega, out. Nightclaw, come," she snapped, opening a shadow portal.

"We were just getting started," said Kid-Arachnid.

"Another time," said Lady NegaMorph dismissively. She paused before saying "That said, here's a consolation prize. Those two..." said Lady Nega, Chloe and Silvana snarling at the group. "See you later," said Lady NegaMorph before she and Nightclaw went through the portal.

Matt fired several blasts as the portal closed, sighing, before Chloe, red eyed, glared and snarled, "Silvana...enemies."

Matt turning slowly to look at her. "Chloe, I am not in the mood for this. Snap out of it right now!" snapped Matt.

"DIE!" snarled Chloe lunging.

Matt twitched before, in a different tone said, with a grin "You first!" before he fired a blast of black plasma that knocked her through the wall.

"Oh no, not again," groaned Kala.

"I'm busy, whoever you are," said 'Matt' stepping past the group who had been knocked over by the blast.

"Oh, for crying out loud," groaned Kala before turning to the Web Warriors, "Hey, you guys are the local heroes, right?"

"Wait...he snaps like this before?" said Agent Venom, several blasts shooting past the hole.

"Fairly frequently," said Kala, "Usually because someone messed with his ship."

"Wasn't there another one?" said Iron Spider, before he went rigid.

"Oh...right..." said Kala, suddenly remembering.

Silvana, using her claws to cling to the roof, was looking at the armor with an almost mad hunger, before she yelped as several webs and a venom blast from Kid-Arachnid hit her...worse with the blast as it seemed to conduct.

Silvana twitched before falling off the ceiling. Spider-Man quickly wrapped her up and said, "Ok, that's one crazy dragon down."

"She's only a kid. Megan caught her by surprise," scolded Kala before the building shook.

* * *

Chloe yelped, putting her werewolf agility to desperate use as Matt, or whoever was at the wheel, sent blast after blast of the black and (judging from how a car had melted) highly corrosive plasma at her. "What's up? Thought you were gonna kill me...not so tough, eh?" sneered the drake.

Just then, a coffeepot bounced off the back of the drake's head. "Lazard, leave her alone!" yelled Kala.

The drake turned to look, putting a claw to his chin. "I don't like that name..." he said, before getting a black aura.

"Too bad, you should have thought of a better name while you had the chance," said Kala, "Now are you going to calm down or am I going to have to get rough?"

"Why would I do that when I'm having so much fun? Where am I anyway? A good answer may get mercy," said the drake smugly.

"Is this the same sun dragon persona we met when we were dealing with those wendigos?" asked Chris.

The drake's head whipped round at that. "Oh, I remember you now. The idiot humans," he sneered, the aura vanishing.

Kala thought back frantically to what she heard about that encounter. Unfortunately, the only one present who had been there was Chloe and she wasn't in a reasonable state. "You're Sokaris, right?" asked Kala.

"Oh...is that my name? Seems ok to me," said Sokaris, before saying, "Tell your friends to come out or I'll fury and incinerate this street."

"Let's not get carried away here," said Kala, "You're in a new world and you're confused."

"Yes...a brand-new world...and I don't smell a single other drake, other than you. Which means there's nothing to stop me," said Sokaris with a happy smile.

"Uh, considering you're in New York, I can think of at least three superhero teams that can stop you right off the top of my head," said Spider-Man.

"We're one of those teams, right?" asked Agent Venom.

Sokaris turned to look at them with smug contempt. "Please..." he sneered.

However, while they were talking, Chloe had enough time to catch her breath, get her head together...and plan a sneak attack on Sokaris.

"So what? You're gonna beat the Avengers, the Fantastic 4 and SHIELD?" said Kid-Arachnid.

Sokaris thought for a second. "Wouldn't be that hard with enough energy..." he said, Chloe watching with a quiet snarl from behind a car, before she leapt...and was grabbed by the neck by Sokaris. "Bad werewolf," Sokaris smirked, making the mistake of turning his head from the Web Warriors.

Immediately, they started shooting webbing all over Sokaris, and Chloe by extension. Sokaris, webbed to the road, said "Are you serious?" starting to slowly pull himself free.

"Well, I was going to throw in some freeze webs, but it looks like my backup's arrived," said Spider-Man. They then noticed the sound of a motorcycle getting louder before Power Man rode up on his Power Bike.

Sokaris turned in surprise, before saying "Nice bike." before firing a blue plasma bolt at it.

The bike got knocked backwards but was remarkably intact. "Ok, now I'm gonna have to get rough," said Power Man as he got off his bike.

"No armor, no dragonbuster rounds, by all means," said Sokaris with a smirk, bowing mockingly, "Get rough."

"Since you asked so nicely," said Power Man before punching Sokaris in the chest.

Sokaris was sent flying, skidding to a stop on his back, his eyes spinning "Ok..." he rasped, getting up. "I'm...drake enough to admit that was a good punch," he said, getting up, his hands glowing before firing a series of blasts. The blasts staggered Power Man a bit, but he just kept walking towards Sokaris.

Sokaris actually looked worried at that, firing shot after shot before activating his ion blade and aiming a slash, only for it to be knocked out his hands, the blade only scorching the clothing. "That...that's impossible. Nothing can resist an ion blade," he said in shock, backing up before looking up to see a Bugle News chopper. "Ok, you're tough, but can you catch?" he said, firing a shot straight up at the chopper's tail.

"I've got it!" called Kala as she flew up to the chopper.

"Hey! That's my dance partners!" said Sokaris angrily, aiming one of the corrosive blasts at Kala.

A symbiote tendril grabbed his wrist and yanked it back. "Nuh-uh, you keep the people outta the fight," said Agent Venom.

"Oh well..." said Sokaris with a yawn, before starting to grin evilly, starting to glow again.

"Uh, guys, can somebody knock him out already?" asked Agent Venom, his symbiote seeming to be in discomfort holding Sokaris.

"Oh please, the fire drake's too busy playing 'catch the copter' and the only other one's too addled to-" laughed Sokaris, before a car bumper dropped on his head with a clang, Sokaris looking confused before keeling over.

The others turned to look Silvana, who was conscious again. "I had to do something to stop him," said Silvana in a bashful tone, "Uh, can someone please get me out of this stuff?"

* * *

Matt groaned, his head feeling like someone had hit it with a bumper. "Maybe I just dreamed I got a stupid superhero name?" he grumbled. He got up from the odd bed he was placed on. "Ok, where am I-" he started before he walked into a transparent wall. He knocked on the wall. "Oi...what's going on? Where's Megan?" he called, before jumping back, seeing his reflection laughing at him. "Oh no...you're the new tenant?" he muttered.

"Well, since your original Other went solo, someone had to take his place," said his reflection.

"Darn, I was hoping I wouldn't have to worry about that anymore. So, who are you?" asked Matt.

"Sokaris of the Sun Dragon Flight," said his reflection proudly.

Matt blinked. "Erm...you got the wrong address. Plasma dragon here, not sunny," he said.

"You have sun dragon blood in your veins," said Solaris.

"No, I got spliced with DNA from a plasma dragon. No actual blood transfusion involved," said Matt.

"Perhaps I'm a genetic memory from the plasma dragon you got your sample from," said Solaris, starting to sound annoyed.

"I'm pretty sure genetic memories aren't brought over on nanites," said Matt.

Sokaris laughed, "Maybe I'm the genetic memory of your womanizing duke ancestor from the medieval era?"

"Oh please," said Matt, "Like I could have had a duke for an ancestor...could I?"

"And there is that uncertainty. The plasma dragons used to be my flight...and you were briefly one of us, or do you forget?" sneered Sokaris.

"Uh...we're not talking about that worshiping thing in El Dorado, are we?" asked Matt.

"Bravo, it awoke the sun drake blood in you," said Sokaris, giving Matt a sarcastic clap.

"Guess those Aztecs were onto something when they said the plasma dragon eggs were 'the seeds of the sun'," said Matt.

"Yes...and this time, you're weaker. Eventually you'll be the reflection in the mirror," sneered Sokaris.

"I think you're overestimating yourself," said Matt.

"Am I? I took control with ease once already," sneered Sokaris.

"Big deal," said Matt, "Draconus took control a lot of times."

"How many times because you were just distracted. Plus, I'd look at your hand," sneered Sokaris.

Matt paused to look at his hand. He noticed he was in anthro form, but the scales on his right hand were a lot paler and brighter than before.

"It's already happening. We're gonna be so close..." sneered Sokaris, before laughing, Matt staggering back, looking at his hand. Matt concentrated on trying to make his scales go dark again, trying to block out his new alter-ego's laughter. "It's not that easy, 'hero'..." laughed Sokaris.

"Excuse me, Mr. Lynch, is it?" Matt turned to see a one-armed doctor on the other side of the transparent wall.

Matts eyes went wide. It didn't take a long shot to realize who this was. "Y...you..." yelped Matt, staggering back.

"I'm Doctor Curt Connors," said the doctor. That naturally made Matt flatten against the opposite wall. "Are you okay?" asked Connors.

"Y...y...you..." whimpered Matt.

"Is he up yet?" called Chloe's voice.

"He is. He seems terrified," said Connors in confusion as Matt backed against the wall.

"Well, he's had a bad experience with the results of your work," said Chloe.

"What work?" said Connors, Matt whimpering, the light scales vanishing from his scales.

"Your reptilian-based regeneration formula," said Chloe.

"I didn't create that," said Connors, "Dr. Octavius did, I was just stupid and desperate enough to use it on myself."

"Doesn't matter. We had a...bad experience with it..." said Chloe, pulling him out of sight of Matt. "Matt, you're going to be ok," said Chloe in a soothing voice, "Dr. Connors isn't going to hurt you. No one is going to hurt you. You're in a safe place."

"Him? The original fucking Lizard?" snapped Matt, snarling.

"Matt, he's not the Lizard. He's the head scientist here at the Triskelion," said Chloe.

"I don't care if he's the High Lord of- Did you say Triskelion?" asked Matt.

"Yes, you're in the SHIELD Triskelion," said Connors

"Remind me, is that SHIELD's HQ or the Helicarrier?" asked Matt.

"Considering they're rebuilding the Helicarrier, again, this is SHIELD's de facto headquarters," said Dr. Connors.

"Great...and what happened?" said Matt gloomily.

"Well, considering we kinda made a scene in front of the coffee shop, we got hauled in," said Chloe.

"Crud...is Silvana and Kala ok?" said Matt, sitting on the bench in the cell.

"They're fine. Kala saved the helicopter, so she's considered a hero. And since Silvana was the one who knocked you out, she's not considered a threat," said Chloe.

"Ok, what about Chris?" asked Matt.

"Nobody really paid much attention to him," said Chloe.

"As usual," said Matt with a smirk. Chloe glared, her eyes glowing and causing a light fixture to zap Matt. "I've felt worse," said Matt.

Chloe looked at a nearby counter and said, "Oh look, Dr. Connors left some needles." Matt yelped at that, backing up. "Now behave and try not to get us into any more trouble," said Chloe.

"Oh, like it's always my fault we get in trouble with the local heroes," said Matt sarcastically.

"It is," said Chloe flatly.

"Not always," said Matt.

Just then, Kala walked in. "Guys, I've been reading over the files they have on Megan," she said.

Matt smiled at that. "Kala, you're ok," he said.

"Don't 'you're ok' me," said Kala angrily.

"Kala, it wasn't me shooting at you...it wasssss..." said Matt, his jaw locking up.

"Yeah, I already know. It's that sun dragon persona," said Kala, "But at least Draconus held back on me."

"That's cause Draconus was just me twisted," said Matt angrily.

"So, what is Sokaris?" asked Chloe.

"Apparently a genetic memory from the sun dragons," said Matt.

"That doesn't make sense," said Chloe.

"That's what I said," said Matt. Matt paused, before punching the glass. "You don't talk about them," he snapped.

"You know, sometimes I wish that I was a plasma dragon like Matt," said Kala, "But stuff like this reminds me of all the hang-ups."

* * *

Connors looked at the readings next to Fury. "There's definitely something happening. He can see and hear someone. He could be telling the truth," he said.

"Wouldn't be the first time," said Fury, rubbing his temples with frustration.

"No, this isn't like Wade. Other than this, there is no brain damage. It's closer to a forced mutation," said Connors

"Well, we can't let a time bomb like him be loose in the streets," said Fury.

"Yes, but there's at least two more of his kind who will object to that," said Connors.

"Agreed..." said Fury, looking again at Matt on the screen, now alone.

* * *

A short time later, Matt was escorted to Fury's office, though under guard. "Mr. Lynch, while much of the information needs to be filled in, it appears to me that you have come to this planet for a complicated reason," said Fury.

Matt just remained silent, glaring and waiting to hear what Fury knew.

"As the details are still unclear, I am not certain whether or not you are here with good intentions, even if your comrades are supporting you," said Fury, "What I do know is that your methods could incredibly dangerous to the people at large."

"From what I hear, our wayward crew member is worse," said Matt darkly.

"I assume you are referring to this young lady," said Nick Fury as he pulled up Lady NegaMorph's file on his computer.

"Yeah..." said Matt.

"She has caused us a lot of trouble the last two years," said Nick Fury, "She has robbed banks, jewelry stores, she's been known to hex people without perceived provocation, she's set fires and destroyed public property. And yet, we still haven't got a good profile on her personality."

"When I met her, she was a thief, good one too though I'll never tell her that. She stole something she shouldn't have, and it mutated her. Next time we met, she attached herself to the team. It's my fault she was trapped here. Bad guy on my gallery released a bio-genic weapon on a friend of mine's planet. She was following up leads on possible cures," said Matt.

"And what do you think happened?" asked Nick Fury.

"I can't say for sure," said Matt, "But it looks like she got exposed to that bioweapon herself." Matt transformed his hand as proof. "Me, my sis, Silvana and Kala: we're what was meant to happen. Unfortunately, the side effect's a nasty case of mirror personality. No cure short of a sort of mental toxin," said Matt, adding, "This stuff's only meant to effect normal humans. The virus hitting my friends...well, they're not even close to humans..."

"And you say Lady NegaMorph was mutated before she caught this bioweapon," said Nick Fury.

"Yeah, she was already hybridized with DNA from..." Matt paused a moment to think of an appropriate description for NegaMorph, "A twisted plague-bearing clone of a shapeshifting genetic experiment." Fury raised an eyebrow at that. "It's pretty complicated. He's actually a lot better than he sounds now. He's sort of her adopted uncle," said Matt.

Matt paused before he added, "And when he finds out she's...unwell, he can probably tear this planet in half."

"So, your main interest is to catch her," said Fury.

"Apprehend her, attach a mental inhibitor to seal off whatever personality is playing with her body, and get her back home for a long rest," said Matt.

"Easier said than done," said Fury, "Those shadow portals make her untraceable."

"But not invincible. She needs to rest between charges. Max of 5 minutes," said Matt.

"Doesn't mean much if you can't find her before she moves again," said Fury.

"My ship can find her now we know her DNA's out of whack..." said Matt, before pausing, "Uh, excuse me, I just got an alert. May I please go?"

"You're still a prisoner..." began Fury, Matt standing up, in his vision, the words 'ship breach' flashing.

* * *

"The alien vessel has been breached, master," said the doombot, the lasered hole in the hull open before it and its companion bots.

"Excellent, scan for any useful technology, collect it, and destroy the rest," came Doctor Doom's answer. The first bot to walk forward, opened a hatch and had its top half instantly turned to slag by a booby trap, the other bots aiming. The trap however seemed to be burnt out

"This may require more Doombots than anticipated," said one of the Doombots.

"You will proceed as instructed," said Doctor Doom, adding, "Proceed to the bridge and disable their security."

"In the name of Doom," replied the Doombots.

The rest of the ship seemed to have similar traps, accounting for another Doombot, till the bridge was finally reached. As they entered everything turned on, a hologram of Matt appearing. "Hello, marauders, you've broken into the ship of Captain Lynch...the last mistake you will ever make."

"This mortal wastes his time," said one Doombot, "Doombots know not fear."

"Activating protocol 9...disabling all safeties on the tachyon reactor...destruct in 5...4...3..." said the hologram.

The Doombots exchanged looks. "I was three days from retirement," said one gloomily.

The few Doomdogs outside were blown off their feet as the ship exploded before the blast seemed to freeze for a second...before it blew out even more powerful than expected, causing a 50 feet crater, before the fire, and the wreckage curved inward into itself and vanished.

* * *

Matt's eye twitched as he got the last alert from his ship. "Well, I just lost my ship," said Matt in a mock-cheerful tone.

"Pardon?" asked Fury.

"Some local hoodlums broke into my ship, activated the self-destruct sequence, and marooned me and my team on this planet. Not to mention ruined our best chance of finding my lost crewmates," said Matt. His neck turned with a few clicks so he can give Fury a smile with _way_ too many sharp teeth. "Do you have a training room here? I _really_ need to vent my rage?" asked Matt, the twitch in his eye getting worse.

Fury, for his part, wasn't fazed. He'd seen worse, though the guards backed up a bit. "Take him to the training room," he said.

"Thank you," said Matt, his grin getting too wide.

* * *

Lady Nega watched from a repurposed drone as the ship exploded. "And you're stuck too..." she sneered, Gary groaning from a post transformation headache.

"Well, this is a pleasant change. Matt's not gonna be dragging me away anytime soon. Now I have all the time I need to make sure my revenge will make him suffer. But first..." Suddenly Lady Nega's dark tone turned cheerful, "I feel like celebrating. Gary, where do you want to go out to eat?"

"You talk about eating? They came to get us. You used to want that," said Gary, in shock.

"I want to savor this," said Lady Nega, "And honestly I thought it would be a more extended final fight to keep them from dragging us off. But we've got a lot more time than I thought we would. Besides, one can't plot revenge on an empty stomach."

"Urgh...ok, some shawarma. Stark talked about it in his last interview on TV and I'm curious," said Gary with a sigh, before a bark was heard.

"Gary, did you remember to walk Weirdwolf?" asked Lady Nega.

"No...I was busy being that monster," said Gary sarcastically, before Weirdwolf loped in, something green and glowing around his muzzle.

"Weirdwolf, what you have you been eating?" asked Lady Nega accusingly.

"Green goo from Megan's table," said Weirdwolf happily, before he went bug-eyed.

"Oh no," said Megan before Weirdwolf suddenly became three times larger. Weirdwolf gave a doggy grin before lunging...

* * *

Here's the start of a new story, one using the Ultimate Spider-Man show. As I've explained, the Guardians of the Galaxy show and Black Panther's Quest do not fit in here. So we're using the first designs for the Guardians here. Matt may have met the other Guardians, but that's another story.

Anyways, in this story, one of my characters has become a villain, though she will hardly be the only one. Things are going to get even crazier from here on out. This story is going to have many chapters, shorter, but hopefully more frequently updated. For the meantime, I hope to at least publish twice a week, not counting this week. Keep an eye out for updates and please review.


	2. Wolf-Bat

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 2: Wolf-Bat**

**Author's note: ****(Underline indicates narration and fantasies.)**

"Another day at SHIELD Academy for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. But today, we've got some new people from out of town. And by 'town', I mean solar system. Or galaxy. Or universe. I'm not really sure which. But let's meet our new roomies. First, we've got Matt..."

The door opened in time for the head of a training drone to fly out. Inside the room, Matt was using his ion blade and a blaster to rather deadly effect, always seeming to move out the way of shots a split second before they were fired. And judging from how many drone parts were lying around, Matt had been in there for quite a while.

"Hmm...we'll get back to him," said Spider-Man, shutting the door. "And we've got new girls around here, which is definitely something the other guys have noticed. First, we've got Chloe and Kala, Matt's sister and girlfriend respectively."

Spider-Man walked by to see Nova floating in front of Chloe and Kala. "Hey ladies, anyone ever shown you the brightest star in the galaxy?" asked Nova, trying to sound impressive.

"I'm guessing Nova didn't read the memo about the new guys, again," said Spider-Man.

Kala said "Really?" in a warning tone.

"And some of you are wondering, is Nova really that bad with girls? Well, not as Sam Alexander, but the superhero business does make dating unnecessarily complicated."

"You know, I already have a boyfriend..." said Chloe warningly, her eyes glowing amber.

"Wait, really?" asked Nova.

"How many times have I told you to read memos?" asked Spider-Man, "We don't just hand them out to play wastepaper basketball with."

"Yes, the memo would have said that me and my boyfriend are werewolves," said Chloe, grinning with teeth that included rather sharp canines.

"And that Matt gets super-violent with anyone who makes a move on his girlfriend," said Kala, her eyes literally burning.

Nova gulped at that before saying, "I think I hear Fury calling." before flying off.

Spider-Man moved towards the canteen. "And last is Silvana. She's got some...strange food habits," he said, opening the door to show Silvana happily chewing on the food tray.

"Uh, you know you're supposed to eat the food _on_ the tray, not the tray itself," said Agent Venom.

"But this metal's so nice," said Silvana, throwing the last piece into her maw and chewing.

"Uh, actual food is more nutritious," said Agent Venom.

"Not for me. Good ore makes for healthy scales," said Silvana happily, before looking at Venom's empty drinks can. "You gonna eat that?" she asked. Agent Venom slowly held it out at arm's length.

Chris walked in at that, looking annoyed and in werewolf form.

"And this is...um...er...um..." Spider-Man stumbled at that.

"Chris Anderson," said Chris in an annoyed voice.

"Right, Chris, Chloe's boyfriend...who's also a werewolf..."

Chris paused. "Who are you talking to?" he said, sniffing suspiciously.

"Uh...nobody," said Spider-Man.

"Are you one of those self-narrating types?" asked Chris.

"Yeah...it's just something I do," said Spider-Man.

Chris pausing, "Fine by me. Regular weirdness is a nice change."

"So anyways, these guys are here because some of their teammates have been stranded on Earth. Unfortunately, one of them is Lady NegaMorph, one of the various bad guys that I've crossed paths with."

"Seriously, I've heard narrating. Who are you talking to?" snapped Chris.

"Do you mind sticking your grandma-what-a-big-nose-you-have somewhere else?" asked Spider-Man.

Chris glared before saying, "You're lucky I already ate." before stalking off

* * *

"Hey, at least you're not being shunned by everyone," said Silvana.

"Yeah, except no one knows me as anything more than 'Chloe's boyfriend'," said Chris in an annoyed tone.

"Don't your fellows say that recognition is a good way to get shot?" said Silvana.

"There's a lot of area between making yourself a target and being a wallflower," said Chris before adding, "But there's nothing wrong with you being a wallflower."

"Thank you," said Silvana, "What's a wallflower?" Chris sighed, before tensing up. "Did you hear something?" asked Silvana.

"Get the others. We're going to Pier 31," he said, getting up.

"Where's that?" asked Silvana.

"Just...get the others," said Chris, sounding aggravated.

* * *

"So, what's the big emergency?" said Matt.

Chris glared and said, "There's a problem. There's still some NSC here and they're calling for help. Looks like a lockup's under attack."

"Wait, I thought the base under the coffee shop was the only one," said Kala.

"You know the expression 'don't put all your eggs in one basket'?" asked Chris, "It's a Disperse Inc facility, my old corp. Looks like their contract is hazardous artifacts."

"As if there isn't enough of that here," said Matt.

"Look, it's just a waystation; joint run between the Combine and us. Any artifacts are stored there and taken to their lockup," said Chris, before snapping, "So let's get there and stop that damn attack."

"You do remember that we're not supposed to leave this place without an escort, right?" asked Silvana.

"What Fury doesn't know won't hurt us," said Chloe.

* * *

"How the hell did he find out?" muttered Matt as the group were marched into Fury's office.

"I have to deal with an academy full of super-powered teens who sneak off all the time. You think you can away that easily?" asked Fury.

"Look, we need to get there. Something to make the waystation hit the panic button'll go through anyone here like it's not even there," snapped Matt.

"What's so important about this waystation?" asked Fury.

"We don't know, precisely, but there is bound to be something in there that's very dangerous in the wrong hands and we can't afford to waste a lot of time," said Chris.

"It's a waystation for an acquisition and containment team. The inventory will change weekly, bet that pier gets alot of UFO reports," said Matt.

"So, for all you know, there's a doomsday weapon being stored there right now," said Fury.

"Could be doomsday weapons, could be the recipe for some Atlantean scientist's sandwich," said Matt.

Chloe snapped, "We agreed to never mention that."

"Point is, we need to get there now," said Matt.

Fury gave him an evaluating look before saying, "Fine, but Spider-Man goes with you." He thought a second more before saying, "Cloak and Dagger as well."

"Deal but they do not go into the facility with us. We got training for this stuff, they do not," said Matt.

* * *

Being so secret that the locals don't even know about it, the defense force at the Disperse Inc. waystation were rather confident they didn't have a lot to worry about. So suddenly being assaulted en masse was very surprising.

"Keep down!" yelled the squad leader, a force of ragged-looking aliens all firing at once from cover at them.

"How did these raiders even find us?" yelled another guard, before a tazer shot shocked him out cold.

"If somebody ratted us out..." growled another guard before he got hit by three tranq darts.

"Shit...fall back! Fall back!" yelled the squad leader, firing a burst that turned two of the raiders to dust.

* * *

Matt fell to the roof, gagging. "No...more...Cloak...travel..." he said weakly.

"Oh, it's not as bad as NegaMorph's shadow travel," said Chloe. Matt glared at Chloe, her smile getting faker before her cheeks bulged and she ran out of sight.

The group looked down to see a ship that looked like it was made of junk and guns, and 2 dozen aliens firing into the open pier hanger. There were also a couple of police cars down there, most of them wrecked. Police officers could be seen lying in the streets.

"Stunners, the base AI will be programmed to melt down if the team on site all die. Those guys'll be shooting to sleep," said Matt, transforming to anthro form. "Let's see em handle me," he said, spreading his wings.

"Are you scales bulletproof?" asked Dagger.

"Never tested..." said Matt, jumping off the roof and spitting a plasma orb that sent several raiders flying, a few of the other raiders turning and firing blue bolts that knocked chunks out of the walls they hit.

"Mercs...switch to lethal." yelled their leader

"Mercs?" asked Matt, sidetracked by the word for a moment.

A second later, a far larger yellow bolt knocked him back, the raider ship taking off, its main cannon glowing from the shot before it flew after Matt, firing tracer rounds from its smaller turrets.

"Ok, now I'm annoyed," said Matt before firing at the ship. The plasma bolt hit something a few feet from the ship, ricocheting into a luckily empty apartment. "Oh nuts," muttered Matt, the ship firing again, Matt trying to block it, only for the bolt to hit him again.

"Uh, shouldn't we be helping?" asked Silvana.

"Matt can handle one old corvette. We got those guys to worry about," snapped Chloe, transforming and jumping down, landing on a luckless merc, the wounds from his fellows' shots visibly healing as fast as they were made before she grabbed him and threw him in a wall. A couple of web shots immobilized other mercs as the team jumped down to join the fray.

"We got specifics! Shit!" snapped the leader, several of the mercs running into the base, the others moving with practice, a few dodging a few webshots the same way Matt had dodged the drone shots.

Silvana was finding it easy to snatch the guns out of the mercs' hands, ramshackle as they were. She took a bite of one before spitting out. "Bleh, too much rust," she said.

A second later, she was knocked back from a hail of red laser bolts, the remaining mercs laughing, before backing off, three larger figures walking slowly forward, one holding something with a red glow. "This isn't your business, heroes," said the lead one, "Find someplace else to fight."

"Oh, that's just cheating," muttered Chloe, the one on the right, saying "They stay." pointing at Chris and Chloe, adding "The NSC has a bounty for their heads."

"What am I? Chopped liver?" asked Kala.

"No, you're mincemeat," said the middle one before firing at her.

Kala yelped, trying to fly up before screaming as the bolts peppered her wings. "Even dragons can get their wings clipped," said the leader smugly.

"They're not leaving. Take em," sneered the last one, the three charging.

* * *

It was rather annoying to have access to your old plasma powers and then face something that's shielded against plasma attacks. That meant that Matt had to go through a different strategy.

"Shitshitshit!" yelped Matt, shots shooting around him as the corvette tried to blast him out the sky, Matt luckily proving a better dodger then they were aimers. "Can't believe I'm running for my life from a junkship," said Matt.

A second later, another of the yellow energy blasts shot past him and removed a few floors from a delict building, before the ship veered off, heading into the city proper. "Oi...we're not finished!" yelled Matt, tipping his wings to follow. The ship was now using its lasers to shave the roofs off a few buildings. "Hey! It's me you're fighting! Not them!" snapped Matt.

The ship flew around a corner before pulling into a hover, an identical gun to the upper yellow cannon folding own and aiming at a family. "NO!" yelled Matt, swooping down on reflex, and being blasted square in the back and into the tarmac, the cannon firing repeatedly.

"Warning...armor at 40% and dropping...energy will pierce scales," said the armor's Atlantean VI calmly.

"Cheap shot," growled Matt, "Bringing innocents into the fight just to get my guard down." He yelled up at the ship, "This is low even for you!" The response from another shot, causing Matt to yell in anger.

However, the bystanders realized Matt was defending him and were shouting words of encouragement toward Matt. Matt twitched, Sokaris's scale color forming from his hands and up his arms, before he yelled as one final shot pierced his armor, throwing him forward, a smoking wound in his back. The ship moved slowly for one good shot, before a very angry roar was heard and the ship tipped forward

One of the mercs onboard turned another and asked, "What was that?" Just then, a large green fist punched through the roof.

Matt looked up to see… "Oh...the Hulk...why are the nanites not healing me?" he said in a drunk voice, as the ship span out of control, before its hull glowed and a pulse of blue threw the Hulk back. "I probably ought to help. Are my arms still attached?" asked Matt.

"You ok, soldier?" said a voice that made the addled Matt think of apple pie for some reason.

"Just give me a cup of tea and I'll be right as rain," said Matt, sounding a little delirious.

A hand grabbed his arm, helping him up. "Are you ok to fight?" asked the voice, before Matt's eyes finally focused as the nanites went to work curing his concussion.

"Just...just give me a second," said Matt, sounding more lucid. Matt shook his head one last time before focusing on… "You...you're Captain America..." he said, in a small voice.

"Yeah, I know," said Captain America.

"And if you're here, and Hulk's up there, that must mean the rest of the Avengers are here, right?" asked Matt.

He turned to see several of the mercs fast dropping down from the damaged corvette, some aiming. "Hand over Lynch!" yelled one of them, aiming an ion rifle.

"Considering what you did to draw him out, I don't think you deserve him," said Captain America.

The mercs looked at once another before aiming, before one of them was frozen from the neck down from an arrow, another aiming to shoot before a blue beam knocked him on his butt. The last one backed up, into a woman who proceeded to judo flip the unlucky splitter into a lamp post.

"Damn...respect," muttered Matt.

Matt looked up and said, "All that's missing is-" Then a thunderbolt shot down and blasted several mercs.

"Villains, you include innocents in your fight?" called Thor, landing, the splitter getting up unsteadily.

"I'm...not scared of you or your lightning," it said, its claws crackling.

"Then fear Mjollnir," said Thor before throwing his legendary hammer at the splitter.

The splitter managed an "Oh sh-" before he was knocked into the wall behind him, which cracked. "Ok...you win," it rasped.

"This...is...awesome..." said Matt, completely overcome.

One merc staggered up, drawing a pistol at that. However, that one was soon flattened by a thrown shield ricocheting off him. Matt span in time for Captain America to catch his shield, Matt's eyes practically shining in hero worship awe. "So...cool..." he said faintly.

However, he was shaken out of his revelry when the corvette fired upon Captain America. His shield could take the hit, but it did knock him backwards a bit.

Matt twitched, slowly turning. "Oh, you didn't just do that," he said, his eyes glowing with plasma control, and finding he could sense the ship's weapons and reactor now.

* * *

"Oh shit! Get the shield back NOW!" yelled the co-pilot on the corvette...before Matt's plasma control sucked every piece of energy out of it, Matt looking like he was breathing in.

"I thought he just absorbed plasma, not drain it," said one merc.

"We lost the pulsar...oh no," said another, before a green fist peeled the roof off.

"Erm...parley?" said the same merc weakly.

* * *

"Is...is Hulk actually getting in there?" asked Matt as the green behemoth was squeezing his way in.

"He was knocked several city blocks. He...probably has some anger to work out," said a voice, Matt turning to see who had probably shot the arrows, Matt wincing as several yells were heard, a few Hulk roars and quite a few dents, the corvette finally crashing down, a few of the crew jumping out and running for it.

"Well, it ain't my ship," said Matt, "In fact, I wouldn't be caught dead driving it."

The captain jumped out at that, running up to Matt and falling to his knees in front of the surprised Matt and Avengers. "Mercy! It was nothing personal! She said to keep you all busy!" he yelped.

"She who? Who hired you? Was it Tenebra?" asked Matt.

"No, some local girl. She had contact details," yelped the pilot.

"Only one girl that could be," said Matt with a growl.

"You know who sent these jokers?" said Hawkeye.

"Lady NegaMorph...wait...did he say he was distracting us? Oh no," Matt said, trying to take off and wincing.

* * *

The three armored troopers were proving to be a little harder to hurt then expected, having taken several blows and kept going. "Don't these things have any weakspots?" asked Spider-Man, trying to web their legs together.

The trooper staggered before tearing it off and aiming a swing with the hammer in its hand, only for some sparks from Dagger's weapons to draw its attention. "You ain't gettin into this, wall crawler," it sneered before turning to face Dagger, Spider-Man noticing some sort of canister clamped into the back, in the center of a turn wheel.

"Hmm, that looks important," said Spider-Man before fastening a webline onto the canister. The device popped out with a hiss, the armor seeming to seize up before the back opened and an anthro saber tooth fell out. "Huh, guess not all the saber tooth cats went extinct," said Spider-Man.

The cat jumped up, drawing a serrated blade. "Die human!" it snapped, only for Spider-Man to web it up.

"Guys, pull out the canisters in their backs," he called.

For Silvana, it was easy as stretching out her hand. The last one was stopped when Cloak teleported behind him, the two armors opening up to let in order, a surprised falcon alien and a human with a cybernetic eye.

"Not so tough without your tech, are you?" asked Chris.

The two of them smirked. "We did our job," the falcon said, as a shuttle lifted into view behind the base and flew off.

"What was that?" asked Chloe.

"I think we just got punked," said Chris, the shuttle disappearing from sight behind a building, before he ran into the building.

* * *

The NSC troopers inside were all out cold, the far doors melted.

Chris knelt by one door, looking at its edges. "Oh no..." he muttered, looking at the file notes, and noting the doors melted lock. "Guys!" he called.

"How bad is it?" asked Kala, still wincing from her wings healing.

"This is tech from DC-919, genetic tech," said Chris grimly.

"Wait? DC as in..." asked Chloe before pausing, looking towards Spider-Man, Cloak, and Dagger, before lowering her voice and whispering, "The other comics?"

"Yeah, Neo-Gotham, nasty tech. Sort of thing the NSC would vaporize," said Chris.

"Seems like a very irresponsible thing to leave here of all places," said Chloe.

"This is a waypoint. It was scheduled to be shipped to a disposal facility tomorrow," said Chris angrily.

"And now it's in the hands of whoever," said Kala.

"Oh, we know who," said Chris, pointing at the melted edges.

Chloe peered at it before sniffing. "Megan," she snarled.

"Does she even know what she has?" asked Silvana.

"Definitely. This is the only melted door," said Chris.

Chloe sniffed and said, "You sure she took everything? I think I smell something."

Chris sighed. "I'll check it," he said, getting up. He walked into the room, alert for any nasty surprises Megan might have left. "Huh...what am I saying? She wouldn't lay traps for me. Mr. Nobody..." he muttered, walking in to see, of all things, a laboratory, several devices in parts on various tables, and a canister of orange fizzing liquid on one.

"Huh, why would she leave that one?" asked Chris. He picked it up, just as a left over merc, left behind took aim at him. However, the cocking of his gun was picked up by Chris's sharp ears. Chris turned, still holding the vial as the merc fired, the shot going through the vial and into Chris, which just annoyed him. "Not silver, big mistake," growled Chris.

The merc was about to fire again before he was hit by several web orbs, gluing him to the wall. "I had him!" snarled Chris.

"Then when were you going to get around to it?" asked Spider-Man.

"He was mine," snarled Chris, his eyes glowing.

"Whoa, easy there," said Chloe.

"He took my prey," snarled Chris angrily before storming out.

Chloe turned to Spider-Man and said, "When werewolves get worked up, they get a little more feral. Tend to think in terms of 'prey' or 'predator'. And you...kinda stole his prey. I'll speak to him though. It's not like him."

"Sure..." said Spider-Man, backing away.

"Don't worry. If he was gonna kill you, he'd have jumped you," said Chloe in the world's worst attempt to calm someone.

"I think I'll check on those prisoners now," said Spider-Man.

"Ok, I'll check on Chris." said Chloe, walking after Anderson. "Chris, wait up," called Chloe.

Chris turned to glare at her. "Oh, someone finally remembers I exist," he snarled angrily.

"What is this about?" asked Chloe.

"I actually saw my file in the Triskelion: 'alien crew'," snarled Chris.

"And?" asked Chloe.

"That's it!" snapped Chris, "The only other thing anyone knows about me is that I'm your boyfriend."

Chloe sighed. "Chris, that's stupid, really, really stupid. You almost ate Spider-Man," she snapped.

"At least people would remember it!" snapped Chris.

"Are you even hearing yourself?" asked Chloe.

"Yeah, we're supposed to both be the alphas..." snapped Chris, pushing Chloe back.

"What point is there in being alphas without a pack? And don't even try to suggest we make a pack," said Chloe.

"I'm just your shadow," snarled Chris.

"I know how that feels." Both Chloe and Chris jumped in surprise to see Cloak hovering next to them.

"You do?" said Chris.

"Easy to not be noticed when you're mostly a cloak and shadows," said Cloak, "And people pay more attention to Dagger than to me."

"I usually just stay on the ship. This is the most action I've seen in months," snarled Chris.

"Maybe you ought to go out and do something together," said Dagger, stepping behind Cloak.

Chloe and Chris both said "What?"

"You know, have some fun, go on a date, go clothes shopping," said Dagger.

"Dagger, you are aware I'm a guy, right?" asked Chris flatly.

"Then go on a date with Chloe," said Dagger, adding, "You're in New York. Have some fun."

"You know, Chris, you could use a wardrobe update," said Chloe.

"Hey..." said Chris.

"You want to get noticed? Then how about wearing something that doesn't make you look like just another space marine?" asked Chloe.

"Fine..." snarled Chris angrily. He turned to Dagger and hissed, "I blame you for this."

Dagger said with a smile, "You wanted to be noticed."

* * *

Matt was kinda expecting a bit of gratitude from Fury for stopping those mercs before someone innocent got hurt. However, that wasn't exactly what he got. "These guys are saying you have some sort of bounty on you...one they looked to collect," said Fury icily.

"It wouldn't have been easy for them to have followed me here," said Matt, "There's a...time difference between our universes."

Fury ignored that comment at that, "You were lucky they were bad shots. It was rush hour."

"Hey, I always cover for bystanders," said Matt, "I took several shots for them. My first priority is leading them away from where people could be hurt."

Fury paused at that, looking at the report from Captain America. "Cap vouches for that...but should we expect any more visitors?"

"That would...be facing incredible odds at least," said Matt, "Any people following me would take far too long. They'd have to be already waiting for me here. And I don't think that would be possible."

"Ok, that's a relief. That ship, what's left of it, Connors said it coulda flattened the city with those power levels on that gun," said Fury.

Matt nodded "Lucky it was part plasma. My advice: fill it in with concrete. I assume the NSC crew are ok."

"They were already gone, if that's supposed to confirm it," said Fury, "My team couldn't find anyone or anything."

"Standard procedure in a breach at these waystations: seal the facility and use holocloaks to hide in the general populace till a cleaner team arrives from command. I'd advise keeping the pier clear. DARKRIFT'll certainly have teams. They'll clear house, destroy the dangerous tech and leave..." said Matt.

"Then all that's left is figuring out what, if anything, went missing and who has it," said Fury.

"I assure you, if anything's missing, me and my team are the best equipped," said Matt, adding, "Or we would be if someone hadn't nuked our ship..."

* * *

"From what I've heard, weren't these formulas supposed to be more cosmetic?" asked Gary.

"Not exactly..." said Lady NegaMorph evilly, "It's less...extreme then Doctor Octavius's serums but they're just as effective. Bird mutagen grants flight, snake grants poisonous fangs, and they stay sentient..."

"Er, maybe you should test it before making your army," said Gary.

"Why should I?" asked Lady Nega.

"Because I don't think there are dosage instructions," said Gary.

Lady Nega looked at the injector guns. "Good point. Oh look, a test subject," she said evilly, looking at the unconscious merc.

"Megan, this is getting too far," said Gary.

"It's already gone too far," said Lady Nega, "Why stop now?" She turned to glare at Gary. "Someone will get a shot. It can easily be you. Now help me choose a serum," she said, taking the data crystals, "I'm going to read the notes."

"Er, yes, dear," said Gary nervously.

* * *

Chris meanwhile wasn't feeling too good, sweating a little as he and Chloe walked down the street, both in human form.

"You ok?" asked Chloe, noticing Chris's sweating.

"I'm...I'm fine...let's get something to eat," said Chris, shaking his head.

Chloe felt his forehead and said, "You feel a bit hot. Maybe we should get you a cold drink."

"Yeah...yeah," said Chris, the two walking into a small cafe, Chris pausing "Urgh...could really use a nice rare steak"

"Let's wait until later," said Chloe.

"Really...need something...to eat…" said Chris, sounding a little breathless.

"Chris, keep it together," said Chloe, "We'll get you some lunch." Chris nodded, his hands shaking a bit before he steadied them

"And look over there, a New York-style hotdog vendor," said Chloe. She looked at the sausages with a dubious look before muttering, "Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Two do...dooo...sausages in buns please," said Chloe.

"Ya want anything on it?" asked the hotdog vendor.

"Everything," said Chris.

"Brave one, aren't ya?" said the hotdog guy.

"Just give it," said Chris darkly, taking the offered hot dog and demolishing it, to Chloe's shock.

"Napkin?" asked the hotdog guy weakly.

"More," said Chris with a guttural snarl, licking up the ketchup before spitting it out.

The hotdog quickly handed over a dog and backed away. "It's on the house," he said as he started wheeling his hotdog cart away.

Chris glared at Chloe before guzzling the hot dog down. "Miiine..." he snarled.

Chloe sighed, "I'll get you a pig heart next full moon." She glanced at her watch. She had recently gotten a watch designed for fishermen that tells the phase of the moon as well as the time. "Hmm...weird...he shouldn't be like this..." she muttered.

Just then, they heard a meowing sound. They both turned to see an alley cat looking at the scraps hungrily. Chris turned to snarl, before running at the cat, which just looked at him, before Chloe tackled Chris down.

"Ok, Chris, I'm taking a rain check on this date until you settle down," said Chloe.

"No..." snarled Chris.

Chloe sighed before punching Chris between the eyes. She pulled out the shield communicator she'd been given as Chris went over. "Guys, I think somethings wrong with Chris," she said.

"Let me guess, he didn't like the clothes you picked out for him," said Spider-Man jokingly.

"No, he just tried to chase a cat...and he ate two NYC hotdogs...with all the toppings," said Chloe.

"Ok, that's not normal. Well, human-normal. I don't know about werewolf-normal," said Spider-Man.

"Not werewolf normal either..." said Chloe, looking at Chris, in time for him to tackle her. "Chris, knock it off. We're in public," said Chloe in an annoyed tone.

"Mine…" snarled Chris, his mouth revealing fangs.

Chloe backed away, actually unnerved by those sharp teeth. Chris also paused, before running for it into the alley. "Chris, wait!" called Chloe. Chris turned, before shrieking at Chloe, before jumping over the far wall.

Chloe got on her communicator again and said, "Ok, there is definitely something wrong with Chris and I don't think it's just moon fever."

* * *

Later...

"Ok...we keep this in-house," said Matt, looking at Chloe and Kala.

"As small a circle as possible," agreed Chloe.

"Yeah, we find him, we sedate him and drag him back here," said Matt.

"Do we know where he's going?" asked Kala.

"Somewhere that he can feed at," said Chloe, "Probably a butcher shop or two."

"Are you saying my sister's dating a vampire?" asked Matt, his eye twitching.

Chloe slapped him at that. "Focus! This is not the time for UNDEAD!" she snapped.

"Let's try to figure out what's going on with Chris," said Kala.

"He did seem to act weird after you stopped those space mercs," said Spider-Man.

The group jumped at that, Matt spinning, "IS THIS 'GIVE MATT A HEART ATTACK' DAY?"

"Relax, I'm here to help with Chris," said Spider-Man.

"How do you know there's something wrong with Chris?" demanded Chloe.

"Uh, because you called me right after he started freaking out," said Spider-Man. Matt turned to glare at Chloe at that, who looked embarrassed. "Don't worry, I can keep a secret. Ask Harry," said Spider-Man.

"Fine..." said Matt suspiciously.

Chloe said, "We need to be careful. Even in his state, he'll still have NSC flash training."

"And he'll be a lot less reluctant to eat Spidey than us," said Matt.

"Say what now?" asked Spider-Man.

"Nothing," said Chloe, before saying, "He was heading east. Unfortunately, all we can do is wait for a police report." before tuning her wrist comp, and the sound of police broadcasts coming out

"I didn't know your communicators could tap police broadcasts," said Spider-Man.

"Actually, it's a SHIELD-issue one," said Chloe, "You didn't know they could do that?"

"But that's-" began Matt till Chloe kicked his shin.

"Are you guys always like this?" asked Spider-Man.

"You're an only child, aren't you?" asked Matt.

On cue, Chloe's comp beeped with a message. "All units in vicinity of central park, 10-91V in progress. Repeat...vicious animal sighted in Central park...all units to aid animal control," said the dispatch.

"Well, unless it's another animal-based supervillain, I think that's Chris," said Chloe.

"Either way, we probably should respond to that," said Spider-Man.

"Yeah...before Fury finds out," said Matt

* * *

The group landed in central park, Kala giving Chloe a lift to see a few smashed police cars, lights in the distance indicative of a police cordon. "Ok, we're on the right track," said Matt, noticing pawprints on the ground.

Laughter was heard at that from the bushes before a laser bolt knocked Matt on his side, a dart falling to the grass with a bent needle. Matt raised an eyebrow and asked, "What was that?"

"Lady wants to get you," said a rasping voice.

"Uh, I think this guy isn't Chris," said Kala. A hunched figure ran out with a mad laugh at that, Chloe trying to shock him, only for the guy to dodge it, his body hunched in the shadows.

"This is where night vision comes in handy," said Spider-Man, tapping the eyes of his mask to make them glow. What he saw was an anthropomorphic hyena of all things, in the ragged remains of the merc armor from the pier. "Uh, you guys have night vision too? Because you're not gonna believe me if I tell you," said Spider-Man.

"I can smell cat." said Matt, before gulping.

"Actually, hyenas are neither cats or dogs. While they're more closely related to cats than to dogs, their closest relatives are actually meerkats and mongooses," said Spider-Man, pulling down a chart to illustrate that.

The hyena merc actually paused in confusion at that, allowing Matt to clock him on the jaw. "Keep narrating. You're breaking his brain," he called, before the hyena merc jumped on his back and bit down on his wing.

"Considering a hyena's jaw strength is enough to break ostrich eggshells and giraffe bones, I think we need to get him off Matt," said Spider-Man before shooting webbing at the hyena merc.

The hyena yelped, staggering back before leaping into the shadows again, the park allowing the hyena-like laughter to come from everywhere at once. "You can't beat me, child. I was fighting monsters from your nightmares before you were borrrn…" he laughed.

"You haven't seen my nightmares," said Spider-Man.

The laughter got louder at that, more genuine. "Don't make me laugh..." the merc said, before Spider-Man's spider sense rang like a bell, Spider-Man dodging just as the merc lunged at him, backhanding Chloe across the jaw as she leapt, sending her into a tree, where she slid to the floor, whining.

"Oh, now you've started it," said Kala before making fire leap up where the hyena was standing. The hyena turned before jumping out the way, clawing her sides. Kala snarled before breathing fire at the hyena.

"Kala, watch it!" yelped Spider-Man, as the dry grass ignited as the hyena danced around her shots laughing. He shot a few freeze webs at the fires, which thankfully snuffed them out.

A second later, a blast hit Kala, causing her to glare and spit more fire, her horns getting small pilot lights that started to flow down. "Ok, that's cool. Probably not a good thing, but cool," said Spider-Man. Kala growled more, her hands bursting into flames next as another shot stung her, before her eyes turned a bright orange. "Uh, Matt, shouldn't you calm your girlfriend down?" asked Spider-Man.

Matt who was taking potshots at the hyena looked over. "Oh no...Kala, not a good time to do your impression of the Human Torch," he said, running over, the hyena, unnoticed, dragging Chloe off.

Kala snarled at Matt, the air around her becoming uncomfortably hot. "Kala, it's me, happy thoughts," said Matt desperately.

"Specific happy thoughts," called Spider-Man, "Try to make her remember good times."

"Kala...erm...remember when...erm...this is harder than I thought," said Matt with worry.

"Matt..." said Spider-Man with worry, the grass around Kala starting to ignite.

"Remember that beach on Avalar, the one where we had fun after Keenai lost her claim for me," said Matt. Kala glared, grabbing Matt and lifting him up, Matt rasping "Remember when we went...to...the future...and saw...kiiiiids..." he gasped

Kala paused in mid-snarl. "Kidsss..." she hissed.

"Yeah...and...if you choke...me...to death...no kids..." rasped Matt, his scales turning a little _too_ blue. The flames around Kala started to die down as her grip relaxed.

Matt fell to the ground, coughing, before Kala said "You...no...die..." before she turned to glare at Spider-Man "You...can...die…" she hissed.

"Uh, no need for dying here," said Spider-Man, "Me friend. Me help Kala."

"You...physicals...so...smart..." snarled Kala, readying a fireball.

"Not your enemy! Not your enemy!" yelped Spider-Man.

Kala's eyes narrowed, readying a throw, before Matt got in the way, "No frying my friends, honey."

"Not frying, charring," growled Kala. She paused before adding "And why did you call me a physical plane consumable?"

Matt sighed, "Oh, god, it's Drax all over again. Dear, please don't kill anyone...except the hyena."

"The hyena..." growled Kala before looking around, "Where did he go?"

Matt and Spider-Man looked around, before Matt noticed a Chloe-shaped hole near the tree...and some drag marks, his own eyes starting to glow. "Oh, he is DEAD!" he snarled, his voice getting a similar echo to Kala's.

* * *

The hyena merc's warped mind wasn't capable of much complex thoughts, but it did know a good opportunity when he saw one. Chloe, duct taped-up good and proper, glared. "My brother's gonna peel you like a grape," she snarled, before noticing the hyena pulling out an injector full of orange liquid. "That's not a bottle of Orange Crush, is it?" asked Chloe.

"No...boss said you need to learn to laugh," giggled the hyena.

"No thanks. I have a good sense of humor already," said Chloe nervously before giving a very unconvincing laugh.

The hyena paused, before starting to walk forward. "Needs work," he said, before a shriek stole his attention, coming from above. Chloe also looked up, even as she was trying to claw the tape off of her. The hyena noticed that. "Not yet," he snapped, running towards her, before...something grabbed him, his screams cut off with a crack and a slurping noise.

"Ok, that's not a good sign," said Chloe. Just then, something landed in front of her, some tall, dark, and furry. "Chris? Is that you?" asked Chloe. Her nose was picking up Chris's scent, but something was off about it.

The thing turned to glare with white eyes, a pair of wings visible...before it threw the definitely dead merc aside. Living people had more blood.

"Chris?" asked Chloe nervously. The figure stepped forward towards where there was more light. It was Chris in werewolf form...a heavily modified werewolf form. For starters, he had a pair of bat wings growing from his arms and his ears were a lot larger. There was also the fact that his muzzle was shorter, with a large leaf-shaped nose on it and there was a lot of drool trailing from his sharp fangs.

"Oh shit, the genetic Kool-Aid. That's what you were covered with?" snapped Chloe, the creature pausing in confusion and taking a step back, shielding itself with a wing. "Well, judging by the shape of your nose, your fangs, and what you did to that cackler, you've been spliced with vampire bat DNA," said Chloe, "I mean, what other kind could it be? No one ever uses fruit bat DNA.

The bat creature looked confused before its eyes narrowed, beginning to take a step forward, before squeaking in shock as Chloe snapped, "Don't you dare. Listen, Matt already has enough trouble with our relationship. He won't like you trying to turn me into a werebat." She paused and said, "No, no, that's not right. Living vampire? Definitely not. Bat-Wolf? Wait, wait. Wolf-Bat, that's it."

Wolf-Bat rolled its eyes at that. "Well, I can't call you Bat-Wolf, that's just begging for a copyright infringement lawsuit," said Chloe.

The wolf bat growled at that, before lunging at Chloe, mouth open to bite. Chloe got a claw free and smacked the creature's nose. "No! Bad boyfriend!" she snapped. Wolf-Bat squeaked angrily, backing off, clutching its nose, Chloe advancing "You want another one? You sit down and wait for the others..." she said, before yelling "NOW!" Wolf-Bat immediately sitting down with wide shocked eyes.

Just then, Matt, Kala, and Spider-Man ran over. Wolf-Bat squeaked and hissed as Kala got closer, using his wings to cover his sensitive eyes from her light. Matt stared before firing a plasma blast, which missed, Chloe snapping "EVERYONE...STOP IT!"

"Chloe, that's a werepyre!" snapped Matt.

"It's Chris, you moron. It's splicer tech," Chloe snapped.

"But he's a vampire," protested Matt.

"Vampire _bat_!" snapped Chloe, "It's not actually the same thing as a vampire!" Chris was about to bite Chloe from behind at that, only for her to hit his nose again.

"Ok, there has to be some way to help Chris. At least he can't suck the life energy from people, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"I told you, he's only a vampire bat mutant," said Chloe.

"So is Morbius, but somehow he's able to do that," said Spider-Man, "Don't ask me how."

Chris glared at that, squeaking angrily as the moon vanished behind a cloud. "Chris, if you're not going to rant like a normal werewolf…" started Matt. With a groan, Chris suddenly started shrinking in size, lupine and chiropteric features disappearing until he was back to human form, albeit with no sleeves remaining. "Oh...well that works too," he began before being tackled and given what some mercs call the 'Homer strangle' by a furious Chris.

Chloe gave an annoyed sigh and said to Spider-Man, "They actually are professionals, current evidence notwithstanding."

* * *

Elsewhere, there was a guy who was rather annoyed for being trapped in a cage, a birdcage to add to the annoyance. He didn't even know what he did. He was just grabbed by some big gargoyle and was thrown in here.

Lady Nega finally walked in once the yelling got too much. "I'm trying to watch the TV!" she snapped.

The guy gave her the finger before snapping in a British accent, "Bite me, you Dr. Doom reject."

"Dr. Doom? That's your best comparison? I operate nothing like he does," said Lady Nega.

"Obviously, Dr. Doom at least has a base," said the guy smugly, Lady NegaMorph glaring before the guy said, "And now...a serenade."

Lady Nega's five eyes widened as she yelled, "No, no, no!"

* * *

The warehouse windows all shattered at once, dogs for several blocks howling...

* * *

Lady Nega's tentacle hair thrashed as she clutched her ears. "Gaaahh!" she yelled, "Something that doesn't sing!" She zapped the kid in the cage with a blast of magic. In a flash, he was replaced by a swan.

The swan gave what could be a smug look and proceeded to honk loudly, Lady Nega's eyes twitching "Must...research...voiceless...birds..." she said through gritted teeth.

The bird paused, Lady Nega pausing, leaning in as it opened its mouth silently. "Silence?" she said, before the swan honked in her ear.

* * *

Gary and Weirdwolf were watching the TV as Lady Nega ran past their backs, screaming. "I told her not to kidnap him," Gary said to himself.

"Big mistake," agreed Weirdwolf.

* * *

The team's trip to the park did not go unnoticed. Not just because of the fires started, but the spliced mutates were also featured on the news. "Well, on the bright side, Chris got his name in the news," said Matt.

"When I said I wanted more recognition, I didn't mean as a slavering Wolf-Bat," said Chris.

"I think the old 'be-careful-what-you-wish-for' moral applies here," said Spider-Man.

"Shut it!" snapped Chris, his eyes glowing white, till Chloe slapped the back of his head.

"I swear to God, if you mutate, I'll staple your nose," she snapped.

"At least your mutation's a lot more manageable than the others I've seen," said Spider-Man, "And I'm pretty sure I can whip up a cure if I look at the formula."

"The serum all splashed on me...and it'll be mixed with the werewolf genetics. Those mercs stole all the other samples," said Chris darkly.

"Then we'll have to find them," said Spider-Man, "Too bad Laughing Boy can't tell us where to look."

"Look, I wasn't in control of myself...don't remind me," said Chris, now looking a little pale.

"Well, he was the first, but he won't be the last," said Matt, "Especially since those serums are in Megan's hands."

"It'll be bad. The good part is that any further splicers can be reasoned with," said Chloe darkly.

"I hope so," said Kala.

"I know so. When Matt was gallivanting with the _Maelstrom_ crew on Avalar, I was sent with a team to observe splicers...not fun," said Chloe.

"I didn't hear much about that," said Matt.

"Another story for another time," said Chloe.

"How much damage could she do?" asked Silvana.

Chloe said, "I dunno...but it'll be bad..."

* * *

"Back for another song?" said the caged guy, Lady Nega bringing the case.

"You'll be singing another tune before long," said Lady Nega.

"If you insist," said the guy, taking a deep breath, Lady Nega scrambling for some ear plugs just in time, though she winced as she saw the newly-replaced windows shatter again in mute.

"Are you sure you aren't already a mutant?" asked Lady NegaMorph through gritted teeth.

"No, just a really bad singer. It took practice," said the guy proudly, before pausing as Lady Nega took an injector gun out, loading a green serum with an Aquila symbol on it.

"Now...take your medicine," she said

"Like I'm gonna hold still for that," said the guy.

Lady Nega's eyes glowed at that before she said in an echoing voice, "Hold...out...your...arm." To the guy's alarm, he found his arm stretching out against his will. "That's right...hold it...careful..." sneered Lady Nega, before injecting the shot, a smaller amount then what had been 'tested'. "I have bigger plans for you, but this is good enough for testing theories," said Lady Nega.

The guy pulled his arm back. "What the hell was that stuff?" he said in a panic before doubling up.

"Just a special formula, with an additive to increase reaction time," said Lady Nega.

* * *

The rain outside almost drowned out a scream that turned into an inhuman shriek half way through...and the laughter...

* * *

There's another chapter. These chapters may be shorter, but they're updating more frequently. The splicing tech is indeed from Neo-Gotham AKA Batman Beyond. What these particular serums are doing in a Marvel story will be revealed eventually. Also, to make this clear, this story is set between the Spider-Slayers arc and the series finale. The next chapter will be up on Thursday. Keep an eye out for it and please review.


	3. Campus Zoo

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 3: Campus Zoo**

Lady NegaMorph walked into where she had her subject locked up, wearing earmuffs just in case. "Time for a top up...your last one," she said, holding the injector gun. The subject slammed against the side of the cage, making it rock. "Still full of spirit. Good, you'll put it to good use," said Lady NegaMorph.

A clawed hand swiped at her. "You turned me into a monster!" screamed the voice on the other side, the air rippling a little.

"And as monsters go, you're on the tame side," said Lady NegaMorph, "I would have waited until I had something more suitable, but you just had to push it, didn't you?"

"Fuck you..." snapped the creature, Lady Nega looking unimpressed, before getting a key for the door.

"Fine...you're free to go. I guess I'll use your sister instead," she said, the figure pausing. "Oh, I know you're a packaged pair. Couldn't come to New York without her, could you?" asked Lady Nega.

"Was...visiting her..." said the creature.

Lady NegaMorph smirked. "Take the final shot or she's your replacement," she said.

"Can't...trust you..." growled the creature.

"Do you really have much of a choice in the matter?" asked Lady Nega.

There was a pause before an arm that seemed to be hybridized with a black feathered wing shot out, Lady Nega injecting the last part. "Very good. Now, I think it's only fair, before you forget who you were, when I said I wasn't going to take your sister...I lied," she said.

There was a piercing shriek as the creature battered against the door of the cage. The creature began to shake, clutching its head, falling to its knees before going still. "Get up...say your name for your mistress," ordered Lady Nega.

The creature slowly stood up and said, "I...am...Falcore..."

"Not the most original name, but it'll do for now. Now, if you play nice, go meet Gary," said Lady Nega, before her mobile rang, "Oh...I thought you'd call back...I think you'll like this technology..."

* * *

"What do you mean I can't come?" said Matt.

Chloe snapped, "To a Hulkbuster base; a gun nutter's fondest dream...and not steal something. No, you aren't coming. Me, Kala and Chris can handle this," before sighing and adding "It's just an experiment hunt...and the pods are already there..."

"I still don't get how a pair of experiment pods could have ended up there of all places," said Kala.

"Well...have fun. Don't fall in the gamma juice," said Matt.

"We'll bring you back a souvenir," said Chloe as she, Chris, and Kala walked off. Matt grinned until she added, "That won't go boom."

Matt sighed, waving to them as they got on the transport before sensing Silvana. "It's not fair. Just cause I can't look human I gotta stay here," she sulked.

"Yeah, sorry your holo-cloak can't configure to you," said Matt, "I still can't understand why."

"Well, maybe we can go out as our superhero personas and have some fun?" said Silvana innocently.

"That's...not a bad idea," said Matt.

"Great. It'd be nice to get out of here," said Silvana, before frowning, two SHIELD agents walking towards them.

"Lazard, Director Fury wants to see you," said one of them.

"I have _got_ to get a better codename," grumbled Matt.

* * *

"Lynch, you say your name's Matthew..." said Fury.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Yes..." he said.

Fury said, "You sure?" turning his screen to show a police report for a missing person...with his face on it.

Matt blinked and said, "Ok, very funny. I'm sure you haze all the people who come from another dimension like this."

"This was filed last month. You apparently vanished after leaving your hotel," said Fury.

"Yeah, but I only just got here," said Matt with a nervous chuckle.

"Or the version of you that lives in this dimension," said Fury.

"You know about alternates?" asked Matt, gobsmacked.

"This ain't my first rodeo, kid," said Fury.

Matt sighed. "I thought Parker was joking," he said to himself, before he paled, "I don't travel alone for no reason. Where's my sister?"

"Currently enrolled in Empire State," said Fury.

Matt paused, "You know who took me...don't you?"

"Not precisely," said Fury, "Lots of mad scientists, in organizations or solo, who would want to kidnap someone who won't be missed for their experiments."

"Megan...is she on there?" said Matt.

"Not nearly as high as you would think," said Fury, showing a list of potential suspects.

"She's after me. Was there any witnesses?" said Matt, glaring at Lady NegaMorph's name.

"Just one, but he...wasn't considerable particularly reliable," said Fury.

"Who? I want to talk to him," snapped Matt

"Trust me, you don't want to," said Fury, "All he said was that he saw, er, you fall into a shadow and not come out."

"Tell...me...where..." snarled Matt.

"Listen, you do not want to go anywhere near Deadpool," said Fury.

"Never heard of him," said Matt

"You'll want to keep it that way," said Fury.

"I can handle him. Tell me where," said Matt

* * *

The bar in question was basically a mercenary hangout, as well as for B list villains who were also mercs...so hardly anyone blinked when the door exploded inwards. "New guy pays for the door," said the barman in a bored tone, sliding a drink to a man in a red and black full body suit before looking up to see the new hero, Lazard walk in, his eyes glowing.

"Which one's Deadpool?" snarled Lazard.

The barkeep looked at the suited man. "Wade, we've told you 100 times, if you have to piss off villains, don't lead em here."

"Never seen him before. Must be one of my adoring fans. Or one of thousands of people I had wronged but I never noticed because I was too busy being awesome. In either case..." Wade spun to face Lazard, "Wassup?"

Lazard's reaction was to grab him by the neck and lift him up. "Lynch, the kid that vanished, what did you see and I'll leave you with intact bones?" he snarled.

"Not ringing any bells," said Deadpool.

Lazard glared, before slamming Deadpool's head into the bar, hearing a click and turning his head to see the rest of the clientele aiming at him. "Really?" he said, raising a plasma shield as they fired, the bullets incinerating in the shield.

"Dude, you gotta give me more to work with. I've seen lots of people disappear. Did he get hit with a heat ray and turn into ash 'disappear'?" asked Deadpool.

"You told Fury he fell into his own shadow," snarled Lazard before saying, "Now if you don't want to be ashes, you'll tell me or I'll begin your incineration with little Deadpool."

"Oh, that guy. Well, just for you, we're gonna do this flashback style," said Deadpool.

"I'm sorry wh-" said Lazard...

* * *

...before they were in an alley, a few dozen ninja's out cold...and another Deadpool standing over them. "I...I..." said Matt/Lazard, his brain blowing a fuse.

"Now let's see, where was I?" asked Deadpool, "I just beaten my weekly band of ninjas..."

One of the ninjas groaned to past Deadpool. "Why are you even attacking us? We can't even remember what we did to earn your anger."

Past Deadpool saying, "You did...erm...er...YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID."

"Ok, moving on. I think I had a pair of cheerleaders with me," said Deadpool. A cheerleader suddenly appeared on each arm. "No, no, wait. They were bikini supermodels," said Deadpool. The cheerleader uniforms were replaced with bikinis.

Matt glared at that. "This is getting from memory to fantasy. CONCENTRATE!" he snarled.

"Ok, ok. Party pooper," said Deadpool, the two babes disappearing.

The past Deadpool looked around at that as a worried-looking Matt walked into the alley, looking behind him, before his shadow seemed to split into two, one separating away. "Oh Megan...no..." muttered Lazard, the new shadow turning into tendrils and grabbed Matt by the foot.

Matt yelled, "Hey...heeelp!" at past Deadpool, Lazard turning to glare at his Deadpool.

"And you didn't do anything to help?" snapped Lazard.

"Hey, if he said, 'I'll pay you', I totally would have helped," said Deadpool, "But then he probably wouldn't have been able to afford to cover my evil magic policy."

Lazard snarled before he grinned evilly. "Ok, thank you for your cooperation...and I'm gonna give you _exactly_ what you deserve," he said evilly.

"Except you already left," said Deadpool.

"Huh?" asked Lazard.

* * *

Lazard blinked to suddenly find himself outside the bar. "See you in my chapter," said Deadpool before slamming the door shut.

Lazard glared before firing a plasma orb through the door. "What the hell did he mean about a chapter?" he muttered, taking off.

* * *

"The new bar's coming out your tab." said the barman, somehow intact.

"Eh, you know I'm good for it," said Deadpool, taking a long drink. He felt a dampness on his lap and said, "Oh, right. Drinking doesn't work when you have a hole through your stomach."

* * *

Matt landed via a window, a small agreement he'd managed to get, if only for Silvana. "It was Megan," he said to her.

"What would she want with your other self?" asked Silvana.

"No idea...but that might mean she wants my sister's alternate next," said Matt gloomily.

"Then perhaps we should keep an eye on her," said Silvana.

Matt paused, before saying, "I love it." hugging a surprised Silvana.

"You're welcome?" asked Silvana.

"Let's go ask," said Matt.

* * *

However, it wasn't going to be as easy as they thought. For starters, that scene at the bar meant Fury wasn't about to let them go out without an escort.

"So...MJ...you ok with this? We could be going up against a supervillainess," said Matt.

"I was willing to go to an interview with J. Jonah Jameson when the Beetle was trying to quiet him with a missile," said Mary Jane Watson, "It takes a lot to rattle me."

"Cool...cool...just when the shadows start trying to eat me, hide," said Matt, slapping the side of his head, his nanites giving error messages on scans.

* * *

Silvana wished she could enter the human university, but her dragoness form still couldn't be hidden. She thought Matt was safe enough with Mary Jane, but there was something about her that didn't quite smell human.

"Ok...look out...look out," she said to herself, looking around and sighing. The others got to go down there...why couldn't she?

She twitched at that, her eyesight blurring as her body rippled, before turning back into the human form she'd had back when she'd woke. Silvana looked at herself with surprise. She had been trying to access her human form for a while, but hadn't succeeded until now. Was she not thinking right? Well, it meant she could walk amongst humans without drawing attention. Well, except for the fact that she was wearing armor right now.

"Activating...scanning local clothing...activating," said a voice, her armor flickering till it looked like teenage clothing.

"Oh, that looks better," said Silvana.

She looked down before saying to herself "Just wish it had activated on the ground..."

* * *

"Ok, Chloe's on a photograph course, exchange program," said Matt to MJ, the two walking through the university grounds.

"You do realize that you can't just walk right up to her, right?" asked Mary Jane.

"Why not?" asked Matt.

"Because she's the sister of the other you...and he's still missing," said MJ.

Matt paused before sighing. "Let's see...ah...holocloak," he said, hitting a button and his features altering slightly. "Ta da," he said.

"Handy," said MJ.

"Best NSC creds can buy," said Matt with a sigh, looking to see what was technically his sister, coming out of a class. "I wonder if my sis hates me? It was my fault...touched an artifact I shouldn't have and we both got sucked into this life," he said a little gloomily.

"I don't know her so well, but from what I've heard her say, she seems to enjoy her life more than hate it," said MJ.

"Yeah...but that, right there, it's the life she shoulda had, a normal one," said Matt with a sigh, adding, "Not having DNA more twisted up than spaghetti and getting all-over bad hair nights every month." He didn't even want to mention the multiple times Chloe's identity had been taken from her. "Still...nice to see one version's ok," he said with a sigh.

"Let's try to keep it that way," said MJ.

"Yeah..." said Matt.

Chloe, the native version, walked up, "Hey, not seen you two before."

Matt gulped before smiling, "Hey, my name's...erm...Drake. This is MJ. We just transferred here."

"Well, not yet," said MJ, "But we're considering it right now. We're going to be touring the campus for a while."

"Cool...wait, I know you. From that venom thing a few weeks ago. You helped people get clear," said Chloe cheerfully.

"Carnage, actually," said MJ, "I was telling people where they had to go to get to safety."

"Yeah, saved alot of people," said Chloe cheerfully, before passing them a newsletter each. "Hope I see you two in my class," she said happily.

Matt glanced at the newsletter, expecting to see announcements about upcoming dances, how the sports teams had done in the last game. He was a bit surprised to read about monster sightings on campus.

"MJ?" he said slowly, showing her the line before reading it quietly. "Monsters on campus, what people are calling the trio have been sighted again, terrorizing campus," he said.

Mary Jane looked at the newsletter, "A ferret, a blue jay, and a barracuda?"

"Yeah, splicer tech if ever there was. Megan's been busy," said Matt darkly.

"Would have thought she'd go for something bigger or more threatening," said MJ.

"Eh, she's just getting started," said Matt, "And there are probably other supers with animal themes to consider." He paused, before saying "Plus these three can still do damage. They won't be feral."

Then a yell was hear, the two turning to see a student being pushed into a locker. "One moment," said Matt, walking up behind the pusher, putting a hand on his shoulder and pushing down. "Hey...there a problem here?" he said with mock cheerfulness as the bully's knees barely managed to resist.

"Who are you?" asked the bully.

"Drake...and I dunno how you Yanks do things but in England, people don't go in lockers," said Matt with a disarming smile. "Well, at least not standing lockers. We stuff people into foot lockers and we forget all about them," said Matt, his voice getting creepier as he went.

The bully looked at him before beginning to laugh, till Matt increased the pressure. Matt whispered, "I also know how to make your life a living hell without even touching you...so go shake someone down for lunch money somewhere else."

"Right... Let me show ya how we greet Redcoats in New York," said the bully.

"Redcoats? Really? That's the best you could-" started Matt before the bully punched him in the gut.

Matt blinked, having not felt a thing. A bonus of being a Shar-Khan. It took a little more to hurt you. The bully himself looked confused, rubbing his fist before punching again, Matt remembering and saying a little bored, "Ow..." doubling over.

"Ha, don't mess with New York City, or we'll throw you into the harbor like your overpriced tea," said the bully.

"That's Boston, you nitwit," snapped Matt.

The bully just walked off, Matt glaring before he and MJ helped pick up the student's papers. "You ok?" he said, the student glaring.

"I don't need your pity," said the student.

MJ looked surprised, saying, "M...Drake was only trying to help."

Matt nodded, "I hate bullies."

The student smirked, "He and his pals'll get theirs."

"Oh boy, I've heard that kind of talk before," said Matt.

"Oh?" said MJ.

Matt nodded. "Usually on the holovids...multiverse's most wanted," he said.

"From what I heard, Alex O'Hirn started out the same way," said MJ.

"Who?" asked Matt.

"The Rhino," said MJ.

"Oh no...we can warn Fury once I'm happy this version of my sister is safe," said Matt.

* * *

The student Matt had helped finally reached where he had been headed, the dorms, a girl with blond and blue hair spotting him. "Alan...you ok?" she said.

"Just some new guy sticking his nose where it doesn't belong," said Alan.

"Heh...maybe we should get them too," said Sara.

Alan said, "Just the Brit. Mary Jane Watson was there. We leave her alone."

"Huh, she's gonna join our school?" asked another guy, who looked Latino with a finlike Mohawk.

"It _will_ be our school by the time she joins," said Alan.

"That's if the lady gives us more. We still need to test the next mix," said Sara.

"When's it gonna get here?" asked the Latino guy.

The window into their dorm opened at that. An anthro peregrine in obsidian torso armor climbed through holding a box. He said coldly, "Ask and you shall receive. Lady NegaMorph asked me to inquire why you have not paid her yet."

"Uh, we're good for it, really," said Alan.

"Then why isn't there any money coming back?" asked the falcon.

"I need to be careful. If my dad finds out..." said Alan.

The falcon smirked. "Then I'll look after these _till_ you pay," he said, lifting the box back up, the fin-haired one picking up a baseball bat, before the falcon made a sweeping arc with his wing arm, a whistle heard and the top of the bat falling off in a neat slash. "And when my mistress hears about that, it'll double," he said

"Uh...how much is she paying you?" asked Sara.

"I don't need pay. I serve her of my own will," said Falcore coldly.

"I bet she forces you to catch your own food," said Sara.

"Of course not. Last night was pizza night," said Falcore.

"Maybe you could use a snack for the road," said Sara, "You like tuna?"

Falcore paused, before saying "I think so..." in an uncertain voice.

Sara said, "One sec." running into a side room and coming back with a wrapped sandwich.

"I really shouldn't..." said Falcore.

"Oh, you're not gonna lose your figure because of one sandwich," said Sara.

Falcore shrugged, before taking a bite, before his eye twitched, tasting a sour taste. "You witch," he snarled, readying an air blade, before falling on his face.

"What did you put in that?" asked Alan.

"Sleeping pills," said Sara.

"Uh, he's not gonna OD, is he?" asked the fin-haired kid.

"Oh, stop your grousing, Zack," said Alan.

"He'll be fine. I only put one pill's worth in. We keep him tied up and we can phone SHIELD in the morning. We'll get a reward and we can still do our plan," said Sara.

"We should use those serums now," said Alan, "Those bullies have a lot to answer for."

"Yeah...perfect test run..." said Alan, walking over to the mini-fridge and opening it, showing three vials behind them. "Ready for another round?" he said, popping the top off one

"When was the last time you used one?" asked Zack.

"It's fine as long as you don't down it all," said Alan, throwing Zack another vial. "Remember, one sip," he said, tossing the last one to Sara, who had finished tying Falcore up.

"Let's make this fast," said Sara, "I don't wanna be near here when this guy's boss shows up."

"So? I could get some animal tranqs from the science wing. We could keep the idiot under till we finish," said Zack, struggling with his vial's top.

"Let's just make those jerks pay," said Alan before he drank from his vial.

* * *

Meanwhile, Matt and Mary Jane were snooping around. "How do you know where to look?" asked Matt.

"I'm a reporter, well, a reporter-in-training. I've got instincts," said Mary Jane.

"Say, I've been meaning to ask, why did Fury partner us up with you to watch us?" asked Matt.

"Well...I just know a few tricks," said MJ.

Matt raised an eyebrow, before his ears pricked. "Janitor," he hissed, transforming to anthro, grabbing MJ and flying up silently to the rafters.

"We shouldn't have to worry about them," said MJ, "They can't be as sharp as Stan."

Matt made a 'shhh' as the campus cop walked past under them and round a corner. "Ok...clear," he said, flying down and turning back. "Ok, we should be fine," said Matt.

"Some keep quiet and don't use any lights," said Mary Jane.

"I'll hear them easy," said Matt.

With that, he continued walking down the corridor and right into Chloe. Chloe blinked looking at him before she backed up. "You...you're from the news," she said, sounding worried in a tone that caused Matts heart to sink.

"Uh, you know that DBC is biased right?" asked Matt, "They're as untrustworthy as Fox."

"You blew up half a street," spat Chloe, backing up more.

"I can explain that," said Matt.

"Can you?" said Chloe, Matt's eyes noticing her reaching for a phone, it only taking a simple plasma spark to short its screen out secretly.

"Look, this is gonna be very complicated, but the first thing you need to know is that I'm trying to protect you," said Matt.

"From who? The boogey man?" snapped Chloe, before there was a scream from the running field.

Matt said, "That for a start." before he flew up and out.

* * *

Darren smirked to himself as he practiced on the football field. It had been a good day. Alan had been put in his place and so had that weird Brit.

"Hey, let's hurry up," said another jock, "It's getting darker."

"I'll be fine. I'll be in once I finish up," Darren called, the others rolling their eyes and walking away. Darren picked up the ball, deciding to finish with a final kick. However, a blue blur slashed the ball apart in midair.

"Oh no, it's those monsters again," said the other jock.

"Yeah, Darren, it's us," said a voice behind him, Darren turning to face a ferret creature in ragged clothing.

Darren covered his nose and yelled, "Ah! That smell! How can you stand it?!"

"The real question is how can I stand you pushing people around like they're nothing," growled the ferret creature, "The answer: no longer."

A blue jay anthro landed beside the ferret at that. "You act like a big ape. Maybe we should make you one?" she said, holding up an injector gun with a barely full vial in it.

"Keep away from me," said Darren, backing up.

He was grabbed from behind at that, Darren turning slow to show a scaly...something with a mouth full of sharp teeth before he felt a sting in his shoulder. "Look on the bright side: apes and humans are closely related. Maybe you'll keep what little brainpower you have," sneered the barracuda monster.

The three backed off as Darren began to shake. The trio laughed at Darren's pain before they heard something land behind them. "You know, as much as the jerk deserves punishment, I think warping his DNA is over the line," said Lazard.

The three turned before grinning. "Cool," said the barracuda.

"Uh, cool?" asked Lazard a little uncertainly.

"You're, like, our inspiration. For dealing with assholes like Darren," said the barracuda.

The ferret said, "Z...stop it."

"Uh, am I?" asked Lazard.

"Yeah, beating jerks up for beating us up. That's what you totally do," said the barracuda.

"Er, there are better ways of dealing with bullies," said Lazard, internally wondering if he was really that bad an influence.

"Yeah, we shoulda given him a permanent dose," said the blue jay, reloading the injector.

Lazard blasted it apart. "That's enough. This shit...gene tech's not a toy!" he snapped.

"You sound just like the rest," said the blue jay with disappointment.

"This stuff can be deadly. I'm gonna be lenient. You come with me and I can get this stuff out your system," Lazard said, walking towards them.

"Give up our power? Not a chance," said the ferret.

"Don't make me get rough with you," said Lazard.

"Oh, yeah, that's proper anti-bullying talk," said the blue jay sarcastically.

"Be realistic," said Lazard, "I'm a plasma-breathing dragon. You're a fish, a bird, and a weasel."

"You forgot someone," said the ferret before Lazard was tackled by a feral gorilla splicer.

"Hey, hands off, you big-" started Lazard before the gorilla-man threw him.

"Hah...let's leave the 'hero' to play," laughed the ferret...

* * *

MJ meanwhile had her own suspicions, having found the dorm room belonging to the person they'd met...and had found a surprising discovery. She was expecting to find vials of mutagen. She wasn't expecting to find a bound and gagged falcon man.

The falcon turned its head to notice her before struggling against the rope holding it, said rope creaking. Mary Jane was a little hesitant to untie it. On one hand, he might know something useful. On the other, he could just attack her.

The falcon rolled its eyes, before struggling some more. Mary Jane decided to remove her gag, though she made sure to take her hands away before it could use its beak on them.

"Oh, thank God. Those idiots used a gym sock. I almost suffocated," said the falcon, his voice sounding familiar.

"Who are you?" asked Mary Jane.

"Falcore...and you are Miss Watson...from the symbiote attack," said the falcon, struggling a bit against his bonds.

"Yeah, still getting used to that celebrity," said Mary Jane, "What are you doing here?"

"I...my business is my own, my lady. But if you could untie me, my talons are going numb," said Falcore.

"Not until I get clear answers," said Mary-Jane.

"I do not have time for this," said Falcore, managing to inch one of his talons to saw at the rope

Seeing she was running out of time, Mary-Jane looked around the dorm. If this Falcore was sent who she thought sent him, then there had to be something traceable.

"If you seek mutagen, they have hidden it, even I know not where," said Falcore.

"You have a rather refined accent for a bird man," said Mary-Jane, "Either you're from England or Asgard."

"I do not know where I am from," said Falcore, standing up over her. "Now, please, I wish not to hurt a heroine of this city. Please let me past," he said, the edges of his wings having a strange sheen, the air seeming to hum.

"Only if you tell me you have nothing to do with Lady NegaMorph," said Mary-Jane.

Falcore sighed. "Then I make my own door," he said, slashing with his wings, left then right, a crack heard before a hot x was seen on the wall...before it collapsed outwards. "I must go," said Falcore before flying through the hole.

* * *

Silvana looked up from a book she'd taken from the campus library to take a look at Chloe, who was at a laptop. "Still safe," she said before she heard wings. "Oh good, Matt's here," she said, getting up, before yelping as she felt something against her neck, a voice saying, "Who are you, reptile?"

Silvana's metal-detecting sense told her that was a needle poking against her neck, a steel-tipped needle. "You will tell me your name," said the voice again.

"You will not touch me," said Silvana, giving her assailant a telekinetic shove.

There was an 'oof', Silvana turning before hearing what sounded like a rumble, taking off as a small trench was dug out the roof by a blast of air. "You dare stalk that damsel?" snapped a shape in the dark,

"Look who's talking," said Silvana, armor forming over her body.

A second later, she was knocked back as she felt something invisible knock the wind out of her, an anthropomorphic avian wearing black armor flew into view. "Leave and you may live," it snarled.

"And leave her in your claws?" asked Silvana before sending a psychic attack directly at the bird's brain.

The bird shrieked at that, clutching its head before it backwinged, its wings starting to glow before it sent an X of the same invisible force out, Silvana barely avoiding it and the shot shooting along and turning a bugle billboard into shrapnel.

Silvana roared before spitting a glob of liquid metal at the bird. However, the glob fell very short and just splatted against the rooftop below. The bird gave her an odd look. "I need to practice more with that," said Silvana with a little embarrassment.

"So do I," said the falcon before turning into a blur, that knocked her back and forth in the air.

"Stop that," snapped Silvana, striking out with her armored wings.

The blur stopped, solidifying into the falcon. "Tough...stole some Stark tech?" he sneered, before his eyes narrowed, "You will not harm her...nobody will."

"Including you," said Silvana before manifesting a metal spike and throwing it at the bird. Again, her aim was pretty off and she nearly speared an innocent pigeon.

The falcon turned to face her target before smirking smugly, "Nice shot, top gun."

"I'm working on it!" snapped Silvana before flying straight at the falcon.

The falcon smirked, the dragon seeming to slow down before he moved calmly, flicking one of her wings off so she'd head down, towards the wall, aiming a flick that, thanks to the air mana's speed would hurt alot more against her snout before stopping above her and slowing down, Silvana roaring in pain before slamming into the bricks. "Have you learnt thy lesson?" he said smugly, landing.

"Yeah..." said Silvana, managing to get up, "You taught me how to make my wings sharp." With that, she lashed out with them.

"My wings aren't sharp," said the falcon, dodging back, before he sent an aimed air blade at her armor, Silvana roaring in pain.

"That's...not just your wings..." said Silvana, wincing, "You...have wind magic..."

"Air magic, but that's semantics," said the falcon.

Silvana snapped, "I am not letting you at her."

The falcon paused. "I was trying to stop you getting at her," he said, the two getting an air of embarrassment.

"Maybe we should have made our intentions clear earlier," said Silvana.

"I simply check to make sure she is ok. I...feel a kinship with her. Why are you here?" said the falcon.

"Because Ma... Because Lazard asked me to keep an eye on her," said Silvana.

The falcon turned at that. "Matt?" he said darkly.

"I shouldn't say-" started Silvana.

A second later, there was the same whoosh noise of an air blade and she looked down to see a neat hole through her. "You work against my lady," snarled the falcon before sending one blast that knocked her over.

* * *

Lazard had to hold back in his fight against the ape that Darren currently was. The jock may be a jerk, but he didn't choose to become a mutation. However, he was a lot stronger than Lazard was expecting.

"Mr. Darren, you need to calm the heck down," said Lazard desperately, pushing against the ape mutate before he was lifted up and thrown through a wall, the library's late-night occupants screaming and scattering. "Keep your voices down. This is a library," said Lazard in a slightly-dazed voice.

Darren just roared, grabbing a table and throwing it at Lazard who incinerated it. "Ok...if that's how you want it," he snarled, sending a low-level concussion blast at the ape. The ape was thrown back and hit a bookshelf, which wobbled precariously.

Lazard spotted that, before saying, "Mental note...pay for damages." before kicking the shelf next to him, the shelves beginning to domino. Darren didn't have time to react before the bookshelves toppled onto him.

Lazard walked over, sending a stunner into the dazed mutation's face, before seeing him turn slowly back to normal. He turned on his com. "MJ, where are you? I think I just met the local monsters and they enjoy playing with mutagens. Silvana, meet me at the library...Silvana?" he said.

When Silvana didn't respond, Matt tried scanning for her energy signature. "Scanning...signature match found...warning...signature at 2% power," said the armor.

"MJ, I need find Silvana. You look for the petting zoo people," said Matt.

"I think I just found one, a falcon guy. I think he was working for Lady NegaMorph," said MJ on the other end.

"That would certainly explain where the mutagen's coming from," said Matt, "Good part is, it's temporary...and anyone using it'll have remains in their system. One blood test and we nab em."

"Sounds easy enough," said MJ, "I'm pretty sure I know one of the dorms they use."

"Ok, we call Fury and get some medics here...and have a word with the guy in charge," said Matt, pulling out his com.

* * *

However, the dean of the university was a lot less receptive to the idea of some of his students being supervillains. Which was particularly odd considering this was _New York City_.

"You're telling me this prank story's true?" he said disbelievingly, showing the paper to Matt and MJ. "Like nuclear winter. We can find them easily. Just a simple blood test for the students," said Matt. He was annoyed that Fury had sent him to meet the dean first instead of looking for Silvana.

"Please, this is a respected university. We may have a few hooligans, but there isn't anyone _that_ unusual near here," said the dead dismissively.

"This is _New York City_," said Mary-Jane pointedly, "Superheroes and supervillains have battles around here every day. Just last week, the Fantastic Four stopped an invasion of alien robots. How is this hard to believe?"

"How do I know this isn't a-" began the dean.

Matt snapped "I haven't got time for this." to himself before transforming to full dragon and glaring nose to snout with the dean. "This...is...serious!" he said angrily.

"Calm down," said MJ soothingly, "Let's throttle that back a bit."

"This guy's worse than the NSC council. It took them 8 months to believe me about..." snarled Matt, the dean gulping "I...can't just agree to force blood tests..." Matt snarled.

"I'm certain that mandatory ones can be issued by the right person of authority," said Mary-Jane, "Like the mayor, the chief of police, or, say, the director of SHIELD?"

"Yeah, right," muttered the dean.

Matt counted, "6...5...4...3...2...1..." before the phone rang.

The dean answered it and asked, "Hello, New York University." His eyes widened as he heard who was on the other end. Matt smirked evilly as the dean listened before he said weakly "There's a SHIELD medical team coming to help you with your tests apparently..." he said weakly.

"Good. Make sure _every_ student gets tested," said Matt.

* * *

"They can't do that," snapped Alan, yelling at the screen where the dean, with a SHIELD doctor, was announcing the blood tests for mutagen abuse.

"This is your fault," said Zack, glaring at Sara.

"My fault? I wasn't the one who gave monkey boy his dosage," snapped Sara.

"You tied up Falcore. Now Lady Nega's gonna get us," snapped Zack.

"_That's_ what you're worried about right now?" asked Sara incredulously.

"He's probably telling her right now," snapped Alan angrily.

"The university would only expel us, maybe get us thrown in jail. Lady Nega would do worse," snapped Zack.

"She doesn't know the serums we use. What if everyone was using them? If she tried to get everyone, the Avengers would flatten her," said Alan thoughtfully.

"That is not something I would appreciate," said a voice. The three students jumped as one wall suddenly became covered in shadows. Lady NegaMorph, with Falcore and Nightclaw, walked out the shadows. "I really don't appreciate my staff being knocked out..." she said calmly, making the door vanish behind a shadow spell when the three tried to run. "And you three have been flaking on your payments lately," said Lady NegaMorph.

"We're students," said Sara.

Lady NegaMorph paused. "Ok, maybe I should have double checked your financial resources before charging you. But still, money is due," she said.

Sara looked at Falcore, who was glaring. Falcore sad, "I did not appreciate being drugged."

Just then, Sara noticed something on Falcore's arm, a bracelet that seemed a bit at odds with the avian warrior. She glared at that, walking forward, grabbing Falcore's wrist "Where did you get that?" she snapped.

Falcore looked at her. "It's always been mine...as long as I remember," he said. Lady NegaMorph smirked before starting to chuckle.

"You witch! What did you do to him?!" snapped Sara.

"Well, I have my reasons. You got to admit, my custom splicer serum worked wonders. A few doses and off he goes..." sneered Lady NegaMorph. Sara swung a fist at Lady NegaMorph who easily caught it, before using two arms to pin Sara's other arm to her side. "You know, I always considering your choice of animal to be the least imaginative," said Lady NegaMorph.

Alan glared, "Sara, he'll be back to normal soon. Even a maxed-out dose only lasts a day."

Lady NegaMorph laughed. "Nope, I gave you watered-down versions. Falcore's here to stay...and unless you want to join him, you're going to do a job for me in lieu of payment, am I clear?" she said.

"I'll never work for someone like you, you monster," snapped Sara.

"I'm actually glad you volunteered," said Lady NegaMorph as she held up two containers, "You see, the stuff you guys have been using were simple serums: one animal to one human. I've been trying to add more animals to the mix."

"I'm not even from this universe, you see..." said Lady NegaMorph, nodding to Falcore who grabbed Sara in an armlock. "You see, the multiverse is big..._very_ big. So big that even works of fiction are real somewhere. There's a planet where Middle-Earth's real...and one where the events of the Elder Scrolls is real..." she said, walking towards Sara, who yelled "Matt, for God's sake, don't let her do this!"

Falcore didn't let go, but he didn't seem so resolute as before, visible doubt could be seen on his face. "Falcore, you will obey me," snarled Lady NegaMorph.

Falcore said, "Mistress, surely this isn't necessary. They are already scared."

"Fear is fleeting. If you want to make it stick, leave something that will always remind them," said Lady NegaMorph.

"But they will be missed," said Falcore.

Sara looked hopeful, before Lady Nega snarled, "Fine...you do it." shoving the injector into Falcore's claws.

"Matt, please, you're not her minion," begged Sara.

Falcore looked at the injector, which was a rainbow color, before he said, "We're all minions to someone." before injecting her in the neck.

Sara screamed as she felt it coursing through her veins. Falcore struggled to keep a grip on her before being thrown back as white wings burst from her back. Sara's screams changed pitch as she started shifting rapidly. Her pants mostly exploded as her legs grew longer. Her shoes were definitely ruined as her feet became hard hooves. A white horse tail also grew out of her spine. Her arms became scalier as they grew talons while her neck stretched out. Her ears stretched out into horse ears while her screaming mouth hardened and grew as it became a hooked beak. When the changes stopped, Sara resembled a kite from the waist up and a horse from the waist down.

"Well, your hybrid formula worked," said Nightclaw.

Lady NegaMorph frowned and said, "No, she was just supposed to be a winged horse, not a hippogriff. I put way too much bird DNA in that serum. I'll need to reduce the secondary animal genes next time."

Falcore stood back before avoiding the stares of Alan and Zack, who said in a faint voice, "Not cool, Brit...not cool."

"Wait, why was she trying to turn Sara into a white bird-winged horse?" asked Zack, suppressing his fear at the moment, "Wouldn't she want to turn Sara into a black bat-winged horse?"

Nightclaw and Falcore looked at Lady NegaMorph with raised eyebrows at that. Lady NegaMorph snapped, "IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A PUNISHMENT!"

"Ok, but a hawk?" asked Alan. Sara screeched before snapping her head forward. Alan yelped and ducked as Sara plunging her beak into the wall where his head just was.

"You ferall'ed her?" snapped Falcore

"Two animals in one body. She's bound to be a bit unbalanced at first," said Lady NegaMorph, "I might even out her brain later, but first she has a job to do." She glared at Alan and Zack, "You all have a job."

"No way...you turned our friends into freaks." snapped Alan.

"And they'll look a lot prettier than the ones I'll turn you into if you don't cooperate," snapped Lady NegaMorph.

The two paled before Alan said weakly, "What do you want us to do? And we want Sara fixed before we do it. You clearly need us."

"Don't oversell yourself," said Lady NegaMorph, "You're not irreplaceable, only convenient."

"Then you can look for someone else...oh wait...SHIELD's already here," said Alan.

Falcore said, "He has a point...and having her sentient and not half-insane would give them the skills to better defend it."

"Fine, bunch of whiners," grumbled Lady NegaMorph.

Falcore nodded. "You did say you wanted someone to take the fire element," he said, opening the case. Alan and Zack backing up to their stash of mutagen.

"I was saving that element for a reptile. Why would a hippogriff even need fire?" asked Lady NegaMorph.

"Would you rather give her earth and wind?" asked Nightclaw.

Lady NegaMorph glared before saying, "Urgh...use 32." Falcore took out an orange vial and injecting her, causing her to pass out and into a shadow. "She's at my base. Do your job, you little pests," she snapped, sending a shadow blast to block them reaching their serums, making a canister pop out. "Your first job is to put this on the roof and turn it on. Make sure you're spliced before you turn it on," she said darkly, a photo appearing in her other hand.

"What happens if we aren't?" asked Alan.

"You'll be spliced with a random animal and sent into a feral rage," said Lady Nega calmly. Alan and Zack gulped at that. "However, this is one person I want to have in my possession _before_ the bomb goes off," said Lady Nega, handing Alan the photo.

Alan looked at it before glaring, "No, you gotta be kidding. She's just a student."

"I've already taken two. You think I'll hesitate from taking a third?" asked Lady NegaMorph.

* * *

The next day...

Silvana had restless dreams, plagued by memories she suspected weren't her own. She had visions of her home...her old home back on Avalar being ravaged and fracturing for some reason...of vast vessels bombarding the old capital to dust...and of her family, her father glaring at her while the purple witch smirked...

* * *

...before she shot upright with a yell, which sounded mechanical. She floundered about when thought she was encased in metal. It took her a few seconds to realize it was her own skin.

"By the elders..." she said in horror before she heard a door open, turned to look and yelped as her left eye fired a laser blast.

"Hey!" snapped the human female.

"Uh, sorry," said Silvana, "I didn't know I could do that."

"Ok...no harm. Nice to see my patch job helped," said the human.

Silvana looked down to see some exposed circuitry where she'd been stabbed and… "Is that a Walkman?"  
The human glared. "Sorry, they were out of plutonium," she said sarcastically.

"Too bad. I could use something to eat," said Silvana.

"Ooookay...what do you ea...oh," said the human, deadpanning as Silvana picked up her alarm clock and ate it.

"Mmmm...microchips," said Silvana happily.

"I guess you don't eat organic food," said the human.

"My people like metals. Makes our scales nice and strong...when we have scales," said Silvana, adding the last part gloomily.

"Uh, what planet are you from?" asked the human female.

"Avalar," said Silvana promptly.

"Like the Spyro the Dragon games?" asked the girl.

"Wait, what?" said Silvana

"You know, the video games," said the girl.

"No...what's a video game?" said Silvana.

The girl was about to answer before stopping herself and saying, "That's not important right now. What I want to know is why you were spying on me."

"I was guarding you...from Lady NegaMorph," said Silvana, adding, "M...Lazard wanted me to. He was worried. We think Lady NegaMorph got your brother."

The girl glared and said, "What do you know about my brother?"

"That he cares for you. We found a lead that he was kidnapped. We'll find him eventually, but I was told to make sure she didn't come for you too," said Silvana.

"Why would she care about me?" asked the girl.

"You...really don't wanna know. Elecwolf said it might make your head explode," said Silvana, coming up with a name for Chloe desperately.

"Who?" asked the girl incredulously.

"Er, an electric werewolf superheroine," said Silvana.

"That's the dumbest name I've ever heard," said the girl, "I'd have come up with a better name, like Voltrix."

Silvana nodded. "True...but I was hurrying," she admitted before saying, "Wait, how did you know someone was watching? I only began last night."

"I've been seeing...something on the rooftops," said the girl, "It's usually gone the next time I look, but I've seen it too often for it to be coincidence."

"I met him...some falcon mutation," said Silvana before noticing the girl looking for something. "Hey!" she snapped

The girl said, "I'm looking for the Stark Industries mark."

"I said I was from Avalar," said Silvana.

"So? You might just think that cause of your programming, like that weird Dragon-Man bot," said the girl.

"Dragon man?" asked Silvana.

"Yeah...he's not around much anymore," said the girl.

Silvana wasn't sure what to make of that, but put that aside. "The point is that I am here to protect you," she said, "I don't think that falcon will be satisfied with watching from a distance for long. And Lady NegaMorph might send someone who won't hesitate."

"Ok, I suppose it makes sense," said the girl.

"So maybe we should go someplace safer," said Silvana.

"Yeah...maybe," said the girl, before clicking a device to Silvana's chestplate, Silvana locking up. "Sorry. In this town, you can't trust any old bot," said the girl.

* * *

Meanwhile, Alan and Zack were heading towards the rooftop of the university building. Though there were being watched by both Falcore and Nightclaw.

"Keep moving...and you'd better not mess this up," growled Nightclaw, the four 'opening' the roof access door with an air blade from Falcore.

"How often do you get sent on missions?" asked Alan to Nightclaw.

"Not often. I guard my Cherie," snarled Nightclaw.

"Yet bird boy over there was always the one sending us our gear," said Alan

"He's a courier. That's what he's here for," said Nightclaw.

"Yeah...I bet...or your replacement..." said Alan smugly.

"Him? Mi'lady only sees him as a toy, something to vent her anger on and send off to do those annoying jobs she can't be bothered with herself," said Nightclaw.

"Ok...don't blame me when you're tossed out with the trash. Just check DeviantArt. Everyone loves birdmen," Alan said evilly.

"I think you'll find gargoyles outrank birdmen," said Nightclaw, "I'm not fretting about losing my position to this tick-infested messenger pigeon."

There was a 'fwick' noise at that before the tips of his ears feel off with a crack. "Yeah...cause a flying stone's so useful," sneered Falcore.

"You're lucky those grow back," said Nightclaw, "I could make your ears disappear. Oh, too late."

"Oh please. I still got ears...though hearing you fawn over the mistress makes me wish otherwise," sneered Falcore, Nightclaw snarling.

"You don't know what the real her is like," said Nightclaw.

"Oh please. You're not her second-in-command, you're not even a minion," said Falcore, "You're her lapdog."

Nightclaw growled at that, before lunging at Falcore who flew back, Alan hissing to Zack, "Let's go."

However, before they could get down the stairs, Lady NegaMorph appeared in front of them. "Leaving so soon?" she asked, "Did you get that disperser set up yet?" There was a crash at that, Nightclaw sliding to a halt. "Oh...you're trying that trick. That's my Matt's plan C I believe," she said, her eyes glowing.

"Er, we were just about to go get that girl," said Alan.

"You know, perhaps a weasel would have been more appropriate for you," said Lady NegaMorph.

Zack glared. "We're not gonna let you mutate the campus..." he snapped.

Lady Nega's eyes narrowed. "You know, I had to modify your serum so you could still breathe on land," she said. She suddenly stabbed Zack with a needle. "And what I give, I can take away."

Alan watched in horror as Zack shrunk down into his clothes, Lady Nega making a full fishbowl appear before taking a small barracuda out and putting it in. "You want to be next?" she said evilly to Alan.

"So...where's the chick?" asked Alan.

"That's your job. Once the device is prepared, my two lovelies will defend it," said Lady NegaMorph, before frowning, "Of course, you might have trouble. Falcore says he fought a hero last night..."

"Uh, what kind of hero?" asked Alan.

"The kind with a dragon theme," said Lady NegaMorph.

"Uh, I'm not the kind of guy who can fight a dragon," said Alan.

"Agreed," said Lady NegaMorph, holding up more needles, "Let's give you a boost, shall we?"

"Oh no...please don't…" said Alan trying to back up, only to find he'd sunk down to his ankles in his shadow before he felt a sting in his neck.

"I've been working on the hybridizing ratio. I think you'll be pleased with this," said Lady NegaMorph.

Alan cried out in pain as he suddenly surged in size. His ferret features were overwritten. His feet grew hooves before a second set of legs grew out. His fuzzy tail slimmed down, leaving only a tuft at the end. His screams became bellows as his muscles grew even larger, his ferret muzzle become broader as horns came out of his head. Alan let out a loud roar as he finished changing into a creature with the upper body of a humanoid bull placed on an equine/bovine body where the head would be. "Behold, the Minotaur-taur," said Lady NegaMorph before frowning, "Or is that just redundant?"

She stood back before saying, "Tell your mistress your name." The bull/horse just let out a loud grunt at that. "I need to work on preserving brain size," said Lady NegaMorph.

She pulled out a blue liquid and gave him a shot. "Luckily, nothing some brain booster nanites can't fix. Now you, lunkhead, name now," she said.

"Lunkhead?" asked the bovinetaur.

Lady NegaMorph smacked her forehead and said, "No, no, no. I can't just call you... Well, maybe... Nah, that's just stupid."

"Ok...Lunkhead? Look at the picture. Get the person in the-and I shoulda seen this com-" began Lady NegaMorph before the newly christened Lunkhead punched the picture and her down the corridor.

* * *

Despite a few setbacks and a brief lapse of maturity, the disperser was set up. "Ok, this would be easier if you hadn't lobotomized him," said Falcore checking the circuitry.

"He was getting too smart, so I thought I'd dumb him down," said Lady NegaMorph, holding an icebag to her head, "I set the notch down too far."

Falcore peered at it. "Hmm...do you have a healing factor? You might have a concussion if not," he said with concern.

"I do have one. Healing factors don't cover headaches, colds, flus, or acne. Everyone knows that," said Lady NegaMorph.

"Fine, we'll guard this device. What serum is loaded?" said Falcore.

"Uh...wait, what did I put in it?" asked Lady NegaMorph.

"You're kidding," said Falcore flatly.

"I was in a rush today. I might have grabbed the wrong one," said Lady NegaMorph.

"Ok...so what might be in it? There was only two," said Nightclaw.

"Hang on, let me check," said Lady Nega.

"No time. We will have to hope," said Falcore, activating the count, before a bolt of plasma shot down, almost hitting him.

"What?!" snapped Lady Nega.

"Next time you create a bomb, don't power it with a plasma reactor," said Lazard, landing on the roof, Megan, time to come home...and spend a long time in the brig. I might even forget where the key is…" before he was tackled out of sight by Falcore.

Lady Nega turned to Nightclaw and yelled, "Turn it on!"

"Yes, my lady...and Falcore?" said Nightclaw.

Lady Nega said, "This is a good chance to see if he's good at his job. Go help Lunkhead grab Chloe. If any of Matt's friends try to stop you, kill them."

"You didn't really name him 'Lunkhead', did you?" asked Nightclaw.

"It was his fault for picking up on that!" snapped Lady NegaMorph.

* * *

Matt yelped as he was skidded along the ground, students running for it before the falcon thing front flipped off him, landing in a fighting pose. "Ok...points for lucky shot," he said, getting up and cricking his neck, "Everyone deserves at least one. So, who are you supposed to be? You can't be the Falcon, I know that name's taken."

"My name is Falcore. You are Matt, the enemy of my mistress," said Falcore, Matt wincing and looking around to happily see everyone had retreated out of range.

"Look, can we please stick to codenames?" asked Lazard.

"And what's yours supposed to be?" asked Falcore.

Lazard sighed and said with an annoyed tone, "Lazard."

Falcore raised an eyebrow and asked, "You're kidding, right?"

"I know. Now then, you're clearly not in our right mind. Step aside and I won't hurt you. We can get you cured," said Lazard/Matt.

"Cured? You really think you can hand them out like flu shots?" scoffed Falcore, "You think Lady NegaMorph's magic is that easy to reverse?"

"You've been spliced. You're some poor guy she kidnapped," said Matt.

"You think this is just mere genetics?" asked Falcore before sending an air slice at Lazard.

Lazard smirked and flew to the side, turning his dodge into a turn, closing the distance on Falcore. Of course, that gave Falcore the opening to an ear-splitting screech at close range, a high-pitched, air magic-boosted screech.

Unfortunately, this was a new trick, the yell not hurting Lazard before he managed to punch the poor falcon in the chest, landing before slapping both sides of the splicer's head and kicking him in the ribs, stepping back as Falcore fell to his knees hacking. "Back up!" snapped Lazard angrily, his eyes, bloodshot from the sonic yell, visibly healing. Falcore couldn't do anything but gasp weakly. "I said back-" started Lazard as his fist started glowing.

Just then, something black and slimy covered his hand. "That's enough," said a female voice.

Lazard struggled as Falcore got back up. "You just hold steady," he snarled weakly, readying an air blade at Lazard's neck.

"That means you too," said the female voice before black goo grabbed Falcore.

Falcore turned to see… "A CARNAGE!" he yelped.

"What?!" asked Matt before turning to look. The black goo were extensions of the arms of a woman wearing a black-and-red spider suit. "Oh no, not another one," he muttered

"Both of you calm down," said the woman.

"And who are you to be?" asked Lazard.

"Spider-Woman," she said.

"I thought Spider-Woman's outfit was supposed to be red and yellow," said Lazard.

"I'm the first Spider-Woman so I got to choose," said Spider-Woman.

Falcore snapped, "Another enemy of my lady? One that strikes like a thief and coward."

"I'm trying to keep you two from killing each other," said Spider-Woman.

"This is a fight between my lady's enemy and myself," snapped Falcore angrily, managing a breath before shrieking a sonic scream at her. This caused the stretching arms to lose their grip and it looked like her suit didn't like that sound either.

Falcore landed first. "You need a lesson," he snapped, sending another sonic blast out as Matt was recovering. Spider-Woman staggered before sending a webbing blast at Falcore's beak.

Falcore staggered back, pulling at it, before he was turned by someone. "Nobody shoots my partner," said Matt, before punching Falcore in the face, knocking him out.

Lazard headed over to Spider-Woman and asked, "MJ, you alright?"

"Er, you have me confused with-"

"Fury had you assigned as an escort, you're in a close relationship with Spider-Man, and your voice isn't any different. And people already know your voice so you better start disguising it," said Lazard bluntly.

"Er, I wouldn't say 'relationship'," said Spider-Woman, sounding a little flustered.

Lazard/Matt took a scan with his suit. "Symbiote? Is anyone here _not_ infected with an intergalactic superfiend?" he said sarcastically before seeing a glint on Falcore, walking over and seeing a little bracelet. It wasn't hard to click it open, a folded piece of paper falling out. "What's this?" asked Matt, unfolding it to see it was a photo.

Matt paused, looking at a pic, taken at Coney Island of a younger him, the Alan kid from that morning and a girl and boy he didn't recognize. He turned to look at Falcore, taking a scan, feeling a chill as the AI said "No human brainwaves detected...mental reset impossible...partial personality traits detected..."

"No...she didn't...she couldn't..." said Matt in horror.

MJ ran up, seeing the picture in Matt's hand before looking at Falcore. "Wait...is that?" she asked.

Matt said weakly, "That's me...what's left of me in this world. Megan...she's twisted him. There's nothing left."

"He might not all be lost," said MJ, "Doctor Connors and Norman Osborn were thought to be lost."

"They were twisted by science," said Matt, "This is science and magic."

MJ looked closely at Falcore, whose eyes shot open wide, sending a weak air blade at them both, knocking them flying before he ran off, one of his arms limp.

"Whatever he is now, we can't let him get away," said Matt as he started to run after Falcore. But just then, they heard a small boom before a loud hissing sound. They looked up to see a purple cloud filling up the air.

"Oh shit. GET EVERYONE INSIDE! COVER YOUR MOUTHES!" he roared, the smoke flowing down and obscuring everything.

"What do you think she put in this mist?" asked Spider-Woman.

"So help me, if she turns them all into Lizards, I am going to-" started Lazard before pausing and sniffing, "Do you smell lavender?"

He took a scan before getting a grin, and starting to laugh, not a mad laugh, but one of finding the joke. "It's...it's air freshener..." he managed, before saying, "Please go check on Chloe. I'm gonna go catch the rest of our mad bombers."

* * *

"Let me go...please...you're in danger…" managed Silvana with difficulty, the girl trying to find a place to put something called a USB cable into her.

"I didn't get into this college by being gullible," said the girl.

Silvana sighed, "Look, Chloe Lynch of Great Britain, on an exchange course with this college majoring in photography. You are in danger from Lady NegaMorph. I can protect you."

"I don't know what you're trying to scam out of me, but I'm not going to buy it," said Chloe.

"The other you is not nearly this paranoid," said Silvana with annoyance.

"Wait...the other me?" said Chloe, sounding surprised.

"Was I supposed to not mention that? I don't see what the big secrecy is about. It's very counterproductive," said Silvana.

"I...what...I...you're lying..." said Chloe, finally finding a port and plugging it in. "Tell me the truth or I'll format your programming," she snapped.

"Is that really one-way?" asked Silvana.

"USB's are two way," said Chloe before her screen began to flicker.

"Which means I could format your programming, whatever that means," said Silvana.

"No! That's all my work!" said Chloe.

Silvana said, "Then read my snout: I'm not lying. I have not been sent to hurt you. I've been sent...by you no less, to look after you. NOW TAKE THIS MAGNET OFF!"

"You're making no sense!" snapped Chloe.

"And you're annoying obtuse," snapped Silvana. Silvana glared before a boom was heard, purple smoke outside. "Let me go...please," pleaded Silvana, before thudding footsteps were heard coming down the hall. A second later, there was a bovine bellow before the door all but broke apart.

Chloe yelped, pulling the magnet off Silvana who jumped to life, before Nightclaw smashed through the window on top of her. "HEY! CHEAT! GO WALK OFF A SHORT LEDGE!" she yelled at Nightclaw who went a bit cross-eyed. Of course, there was a short ledge right outside the window and Nightclaw soon found himself tumbling over it. Silvana winced as a crash was heard. Silvana looked out before an angry Nightclaw flew back in.

* * *

The bovinetaur meanwhile was trotting after Chloe. "The lady wants to meet you. Running's just gonna delay it," he called.

"What are you?" asked Chloe, "A Minotaur-taur?"

"I am Taurus!" snapped the mutate.

"Oh, well, a lot simpler to say," said Chloe.

She paused briefly to kick an extinguisher, one of the heavy ones, which came off its housing just as Taurus ran past it and pinned his tail. "Hah! Catch me now, lunkhead!" Chloe called.

"I'm not Lunkhead!" roared Taurus, the bricks around him trembling.

"Really? Coulda fooled meeee!" taunted Chloe before yelping as Taurus made a brick fly at her head, missing.

"I'm not just muscle and horns," said Taurus before stomping one hoof.

Chloe ran into a doorframe and grabbed it. "But did you know this building's not rated for earthquakes?"

Taurus going "What?" before he vanished through the floor...and the others below, a faint "Ow…" heard.

"Stupid beefhead," muttered Chloe.

She turned to leave in time for a shadow portal to open, Sara's voice heard, "Please...help..."

"Sara?" asked Chloe with concern.

She paused, before walking forward and through, emerging in an empty warehouse, a cloaked figure on a chair, sobbing. "Chloe...you came?" it said in Sara's voice.

"I'm here, Sara. What's going on? Where are we?" asked Chloe.

"Please...help..." said the figure.

"Don't worry, Sara. We're gonna get out of here," said Chloe, walking over to the figure.

A taloned hand shot out at that, grabbing her arm, the figure standing up to reveal a smirking osprey head, her eyes glowing red. "Nice...the lady will be so happy," she said.

* * *

Falcore ran as fast as he could. With his wings not working, he wanted to get as clear from the mutagen as he could. He didn't want to get double-dosed.

A plasma blast shot down in front of him, causing Falcore to stagger to a halt, Lazard landing. "Enough. Your left arm...wing thing's broke in 2 places. You're going nowhere. Surrender so we can help you," he said before trying, "There is no dishonor in surrendering to an impossible fight..."

"I will not desert my mistress. That would be a dishonor not worth living with," said Falcore. "You aren't that extreme about honor," said Lazard, "Your code is chivalry, not bushido."

Falcore glared, looking around. There were too many watchers for clumsy air blades. "You speak truth, Lazard. Fine...for now..." he said, bowing his head.

"Trust me, you're gonna get better care with us than with her," said Lazard.

"When I am healed, our fight will resume," said Falcore darkly as a SHIELD dropship came into view. "No...no, it won't," said Lazard.

* * *

Chloe opened her eyes to see she was strapped to a chair, the avian mutate with her friend's voice standing a little further away. "Sara...what did they do to you?" she said, getting the osprey hippogriff's attention.

"Well, Falcore convinced Lady NegaMorph to upgrade me. I mean, a is cool, but I think an osprey fits me better. But I'm more relieved I'm not running on instincts right now," said the hippogriff.

"Sara, let me loose. That drug did something to you. I'm sorry I ignored you. I was...upset about my brother. Please..." said Chloe, struggling some more.

"You ignored a lot of things," said the hippogriff, "Things that could have saved you from this."

"Please, I tried everything. I called everyone I could. I even tried to call SHIELD and the Avengers..." said Chloe desperately, adding, "I know I never liked you and Matt going out, but I'd never have sent him home like the cops thought."

Sara smirked, "Oh, he never went home..."

"Sara, please. You can't do this. You had to have known before you were transformed. Didn't you feel outraged?" asked Chloe pleadingly.

"I'm fine like this. Now I know where Matt is," said Sara smugly.

Chloe said, "He wouldn't want you to work with a villain..." Sara frowned at that, suddenly looking unsure. "She hasn't brainwashed you yet," said Chloe with realization, "We can still get away."

Sara paused, before walking forward, before a black hand slapped her forehead, a glowing yellow triangle appearing there for a second and Sara going rigid, Lady Nega walking around. "So, in this world, you're the talky one and your brother's the sensible one," she said as Sara shook, gripping her head.

"How could you do this?" snapped Chloe, "What did we ever do to you?"

"Well, I need to be sure. In almost every world, you and your brother end up being some sort of hero. So I can't trust you two not to get in my way," said Lady NegaMorph, Sara shrieking before going limp.

"Aquilla...be so good as to guard the door," Lady Nega said. Sara didn't respond. Lady NegaMorph sighed before picking her up and placing her in front of the door. "You're not going to be able to leave anyways," said Lady Nega as she walked back to Chloe.

"What did you do to her?" snapped Chloe, struggling.

"Oh, I had an associate perform some mental spring cleaning," said Lady Nega casually, adding, "Sara as you know her is toast. But don't worry. You won't really remember her in a little bit." Lady NegaMorph pulled out a syringe, "Now, I've been getting enough practice from your friends that I know you'll turn out exactly as I intended."

"What are you gonna do to me?" said Chloe worried as Lady Nega pulled an injector gun out of a shadow.

"I'm going to give you a little cocktail: essence of scorpion and lion. I can't want to see how it turns out..." she said, walking forward. The last thing Chloe heard before she felt a pain in her arm was Lady Nega laughing "Science is so much fun..."

* * *

In the Triskelion's prison, Falcore was in a cell, his arm/wing in a cast. While he may have surrendered and was more a victim than a villain, he couldn't be trusted to be free.

He had however managed to keep his communicator, hidden in his free arm's plumage. "My lady...please answer," he whispered once the guards were gone.

However, the voice that answered was not Lady NegaMorph's. "What do you want?" asked Nightclaw's voice.

"Nightclaw, you cur. Tell the lady the SHIELD lackies caught me after her enemy injured me. She needs to send a shadow portal," said Falcore.

"If you're injured, then SHIELD would be a better place for you to stay," said Nightclaw's voice.

Falcore's eye narrowed. "Her control spell has worn off again, hasn't it?" he asked.

"Don't speak so loud," hissed Gary, "Just trust me. Stay there until you're healed. Try to learn some SHIELD secrets while you're there. Otherwise, she'll... Well, I don't think you want to think about it."

"You liar...MY LADY!" Falcore yelled.

Gary's eyes narrowed. "You and Megan will be safer if you're locked up," before the line went dead, Falcore's expression falling.

Just then, a guard walked over and asked, "What's all the yelling about?"

Falcore just hung his head, his avian eyes turning a human green for a second before he said quietly, "It's...nothing."

* * *

There's another chapter, though this one is a bit unlike the others. Not much of Spider-Man here, for instance, but he will be in the next one. We get to have a look at Lady NegaMorph's operations. And of course, we feature a brief reappearance of Deadpool. He'll be having his own chapter later, though that will be a while.

Since Spidey didn't appear much in this chapter, the next one will be coming sooner. It'll be up on Saturday. Keep an eye out for it and please review.


	4. Aliens in the Walls

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 4: Aliens in the Walls**

"Well, another day, another mission. But this one is a little off the radar, even the weirdness radar. Seems there are a couple of alien, uh, thingies to pick up."

Kala snapped, "Stop narrating yourself! We've been on this ship for 2 hours and that could be the last straw."

Chloe yawned, "Trust me, it could."

"Ok, ok," said Spider-Man, "You mind telling me how alien...uh..."

"Experiment pods," said Kala, "Genetic experiments that have been dehydrated for transport."

"It's a long story. Basically, just add water and up they get," said Chloe.

Kala nodded, "Pretty much. They'll probably be grouchy though so it's better I'm here. Though why we need to go to the desert is beyond me."

"On the plus side, it makes it less likely for them to get wet," said Chris.

"Yeah, that's a mercy. But it's safer if we get them locked away," said Chloe calmly, the ship shaking as it began a descent.

"So which state are we in?" asked Kala.

"New Mexico," said Chloe, looking at her wrist comp, "Desert base, apparently they relocated here after some group called the Agents of SMASH started using their main base as a clubhouse."

"Huh, small neighborhood," said Spider-Man.

Kala looked out to see a desert ghost town, 70's style by the look of things...and her dragon eyes seeing the troopers in the houses, a nasty surprise for looters. "Yeah...nasty," she said, the ship landing and a man in a blue general's uniform walking forward as the group got out.

"General Talbot, Hulkbusters. I assume you're here for the gobstoppers," said the general.

"Gobstoppers? Who comes up with these codenames?" asked Spider-Man.

Talbot turned to glare at Spider-Man at that. "You're the one from the Bugle news. What are you doing with SHIELD agents?" he said icily.

"Oi, talk to me," snapped Chloe, "We are indeed here to take the pods. We're trained in safely containing them. You've had living bombs in your basement."

"We've had living bombs taking over one of our facilities, but no one seems to be concerned about them," said Talbot in a rather unpleasant way.

"I'm sure. We're just here for the pods. Director Fury granted us full access to take it...and any other technology we identify as off-world and dangerous," said Chloe. Kala was about to say something, but Chloe gave her a look.

Talbot glared, before taking the letter. "Doesn't say anything about confiscating anything else," he said.

Chloe glared. "Ok, let's call Fury then..." she said, making a show of dialing a com.

"I wouldn't push Fury," said Spider-Man, "He and me are like this close." He crossed his fingers to show.

Talbot glared before saying, "This way..." leading them into the square of the town, where a hatch opened.

Little did they know that they were being followed over the rooftops by something. Something small, blue, fluffy, and having a few too many arms for an earthling. Kala paused for a second, the thing ducking back as she peered where it was, before shaking her head and walking into the hatch, the furball rolling into a literal ball and rolling after them

* * *

As they descended in an elevator, Spider-Man asked, "Say, this place wouldn't happen to be Area 51, would it?"

"They wish they had our security," said one of the troopers on guard, before Talbot glared at him.

"After we...lost Gamma Base, we moved our operations here," he said, the lift descending into a large hanger, scientists, maintenance and soldiers milling around.

"Who are you preparing to fight against?" asked Chris.

"Who else? It's only a matter of time before the Hulk shows his true colors," said Talbot.

"You know, there are other supervillains who are a greater threat," said Spider-Man.

Talbot glared. "You haven't seen the Hulk smash an armored division like they're toys," he said.

The group walked off, the blue ball rolling to the side. The ball rolled until it was near an air vent. Then it uncurled into a small blue koala-like creature with four arms, three spikes on its back, and antenna on its head. With an effortless pull, it yanked the grate off the vent before walking inside it, closing it shut behind it.

"What else do you make here?" asked Chloe, noticing several blast doors with radiation warnings.

"I'm betting it's not giant microwave ovens," said Spider-Man.

"We research gamma radiation, mostly to find a better way to stop the Hulk. There was rumors Banner made some sort of syphon that could do the job. We're trying to make our own," said Talbot.

"Isn't Banner the top expert on gamma radiation?" asked Spider-Man.

"He is, but he's not the only expert," said Talbot.

"Who else do you have?" said Chloe.

Talbot glare, "That's classified."

"I just hope it's not a second-rate knockoff who'll make more problems by claiming to know more than he actually does," said Kala.

Talbot doubled his glare before saying, "The pods are this way...as is what's left of the ship they were on. Thing crashed in the 90's…" leading them to a guarded heavy-duty door.

"The 90's? That can't be right," muttered Kala.

"Time dilation, remember?" whispered Chris.

Kala nodded before pausing again, sniffing the air. "Talbot...does that room get any damp?" she said.

"This is a desert," said Talbot.

"Yes, but it's not baking in here," said Kala, "That means this place has air conditioning and ventilation. Which eventually causes condensation."

"Kala..." said Chloe, before Kala said "I can smell o'hana..." Chris and Kala tensing up.

"What's that? Is that like a Southwestern dish?" asked Spider-Man.

"No...it's...a codename for an experiment on the loose," said Chris, deciding not to say that Kala had once _been_ one of the experiments.

"Impossible," said Talbot, "Nothing gets loose in here."

"Trust me, 600 series could flatten cities. These are 700 series..." snapped Chloe, readying a dehydrator blaster.

"Then how comes we're not hearing any breaking?" asked Spider-Man, "I'm not even getting a ping from my spider-sense."

"Oh God...they're out of the vault," said Chloe, before an alarm began to ring.

"That's the armory," snapped Talbot.

"Probably don't want anyone stealing any anti-Hulk weapons," said Chris.

Kala said in a panic, "Talbot, call your men off. A 700 series'll massacre them even without weapons."

"And you can do better?" scoffed Talbot.

"Yeah..." said Chris, readying a dehydrator cannon.

* * *

The little blue creature was having a lot of fun now. He had found a pair of blasters just his size and was shooting things up, cackling maniacally. Better, these humans were only using lead projectiles, not even close to being able to hurt him. "_Meega nala queesta_!" he yelled, firing more shots, forcing the security team to duck back, dragging their injured with them.

An earpiece in his ear snapped, "Stop messing around. You can wreck the base _after_ your brothers are free."

"_Kella trago_," snapped the creature.

"I don't care if it's too easy. This isn't a game," snapped the voice on the earpiece.

"_Gabba_?" said the creature before the voice said "Because those people you followed in are from Lynch's crew. They'll be geared to deal with you. I assume you haven't smashed the failsafe. Having Silvia making grief would ruin their day."

The creature looked at a gadget he was holding. "_Shreka_?" he asked.

"Yes, if you had bothered to ask more about it, you'd have known," said the voice, sounding annoyed, "Just attaching to their chest and it'll do the rest...just below the neck." before a crash was heard, the creature turning in time for a glob of webbing to cover it, a faint "_Fuu buu_." heard.

Spider-Man swung over and said, "Ok, what kind of crazy thief would be so-" Suddenly, the creature tore his way out of the webbing. "Cute and fluffy?" asked Spider-Man in confusion.

The creature grinned before extending all arms, aiming at him, laughing before Kala jumped between them. "_Ta kula ne 626_?" she said.

* * *

"Stitch, what are you doing here?" asked Kala.

"None of your business, traitor," said the creature, aiming at her.

"Stitch, it's me, Kala, 777. We're family," said Kala, sounding hurt.

The voice in 'Stitch's' earpiece said, "Good, she's buying it. Say you're here to arrest her for the NSC."

"Nullspace cops sent me..." said 'Stitch'.

Kala backing up, "No, Stitch, you're smarter than this. You know o'hana sticks together. Lilo would be shocked at you."

"Remember, Lilo means everything to you," said the earpiece, "You should be taken aback by that."

'Stitch' sighed mentally before making a show of dropping his blasters in shock.

Kala gave a sigh of relief and said, "That's right, Stitch. We're o'hana."

The voice chuckled, "Nice one. Now play along. You might even get to where they're based."

* * *

"Uh, did I miss a movie or something?" asked Spider-Man.

"I was talking him down. This is Stitch. Back home, we managed to rehabilitate them. Stitch helped too. We had to leave them behind. Looks like McNeil got to them," said Kala sadly.

"Who?" asked Spider-Man.

"Long story..." said Chloe, looking at Stitch before saying suspiciously, "How'd you get here? Where's Lilo?"

"Uh, spaceship, McNeil sent me," said Stitch.

"And Lilo?" said Chloe, adding "You and Lilo are inseparable."

"Not anymore," said Stitch sadly, "Lilo too busy now."

"What? Doing what?" said Chris.

"Boyfriend," said Stitch with a growl.

Kala sighed, "That's a load of blitznak. McNeil's probably implanted it to mind whammy you." Stitch seemed to look saddened by that. "Don't worry, we can fix whatever he did to your brain," said Kala.

"Least we got some help," said Chloe, before saying, "Now let's get these damn pods. Stitch, the commander here's an asshole. You'll have to pretend to be a prisoner."

Stitch gave a growl at that.

"It's that or we have to fight the entire US army," snapped Chloe, glaring in a way that caused Stitch to back up a step.

"Ok, so should I be webbing him up again?" asked Spider-Man.

"Won't hold him..." said Chris, Stitch nodding, before kicking his guns aside in a sulk.

"Chris, tell Talbot we caught the intruder. Must have been an extra pod in the base," she said.

"Right," said Chris before walking back.

"Ok, let's get these pods. Kala, keep an eye on Stitch. Spider-Man, let's go," said Chloe.

* * *

'Stitch' wasn't annoyed just because he was acting the prisoner. The voice in his earpiece was berating him as well. "That was the worst performance I've ever heard. I'm shocked they brought it. It's probably just as well they don't know you exist," snapped the voice. 'Stitch' growled before the voice snapped "You'd better not mess up, Leroy...or I'll personally dehydrate you and bury your pod on a desert planet."

"_Poman cheeki, Omnirus,_" growled Leroy.

"Leave my mother out of this...wait, I don't have a mother. Anyways, you better start using that supercomputer brain of yours," said the voice.

Omnirus seemed to pause before a contact in Leroy's eye stung; a camera for Omnirus to view things. "Is that Kala I see? Use the damn device..."

"_Gabba?_"

"You're all alone, the device has more than one charge, and Kala had...more of a personality than you would think," said Omnirus's voice.

Leroy sighed before walking towards Kala. "_Ta gabba?_" he said, holding up what looked like a broach.

"What's that?" asked Kala, leaning down to look.

The broach whirred for a second before unfolding into a mechanical spider, before scuttling off Leroy's paw and up a small hole in Kala's pant leg, a small bump showing how it was moving towards her collar

"Hey, cut it out!" snapped Kala, swatting at the moving bump.

The device scuttled into view, before what looked like a needle came out, injecting her with a pink liquid, jumping back into Leroy's paw. "Bah-bye," said 'Stitch' before he ran off.

"Hey! You get back here!" snapped Kala, before tripping over her trouser legs, the view getting bigger as she shrunk and her head feeling foggy.

'Stitch' paused a bit, looking back at the bulging shirt that didn't seem to be moving in a straight line. "_Gabba?_" he said, walking back, before a red furred paw tore the clothing apart, a red and pink colored female experiment tearing her way free before glaring at him. "Uh oh," said 'Stitch' before he ran.

A plasma blast narrowly missed him before the experiment tackled him. "626, what are you doing here? Where am I?" snarled the experiment in Kala's voice and in fluent Tantalog.

"Huh, that doohickey didn't work," said 'Stitch'.

"It did. I found her old test files. Kala was meant to be a combat experiment. She got repurposed for some reason. This is the real Kala," laughed Omnirus.

"Whoda thought?" said 'Stitch', "But what am I supposed to do with her?"

"I added something else. Drop your disguise."

At that, 'Stitch's' fur swirled with color as it went from blue to red. The edges of his ears became ruffled, his antenna bent, and his teeth became an unhealthy yellow.

Kala backed up before saying, "Oh...it's you, boss."

Omnirus laughed in Leroy's ear, "The file also had the chemical compound for resetting her commander profile. She thinks you're the boss."

"Like how he thought Matt was her boss?" asked Leroy.

"Yeah...you like it? Kala 1.0 was designed for heavy combat. Even the real Stitch would struggle," said Omnirus.

"She doesn't look that strong," said Leroy.

"Trust me..." said Omnirus.

"Ok, but not all of them are gonna be rebooted like that," said Leroy.

"I also got Chloe's EXP mutation's power. You'll need her," said Omnirus.

"Can't I just smash in, grab the pods, and run?" asked Leroy.

"No, because that's not a plan. Now tell Kala to hide. If they see her, you're rumbled," said Omnirus.

* * *

"What's taking Kala so long?" asked Chris. "Maybe she just needed to use the bathroom," said Spider-Man.

Stitch came up at that, Chloe looking at him. "You seen Kala?" Stitch shrugged. "Urgh...she's probably looking to see if any other of Stitch's pals are around. Ok, let's open this up," Chloe said, the guards unlocking the vault.

"Whoa," said Spider-Man, which described the vault rather well.

Chloe, however, was not amused. "Is anything here _not_ NSC property? That's a T-450 singularity cannon...and that's a MK 31 Jump engine!" she snapped angrily, pointing to various pieces of machinery, before turning a corner, "A Combine Interceptor?"

"Chloe," said Chris in a warning tone.

"Talbot's lucky the NSC didn't send a killsquad after this place. Anything here could smash this planet," snapped Chloe angrily.

"Not everything here can be that bad," said Spider-Man, picking up a small blaster.

Chloe and Chris immediately threw themselves to the floor, Chris saying in a muffled voice, "Please put the plasma magnum down." Spider-Man slowly put the blaster down.

"That reminds me; Matt cannot know about this," said Chloe.

Chris whimpered, "Never...ever...tell him..."

"Uh-huh, so where are we supposed to find those jawbreakers in all this stuff?" asked Spider-Man.

Chris pulled out a scanner before saying, "Top shelf on the stack behind you..."

"Got it," said Spider-Man, shooting a webline up and leaping up to the top shelf. In a small glass container, say two small marbles, both with numbers on them. One simply had '000' on it while the other was labelled '701'. Spider-Man slowly picked up the container, but nothing seemed to happen. He then jumped back to the floor with the container in hand.

"They'll be fine. They're practically indestructible like that," said Chloe, taking the container carefully.

"000? How does that even make sense?" asked Chris, looking at the pods.

"I've...heard of that. The emperor was obsessed with him. Real thorn in the empire's side," Chloe said.

"But now?" asked Chris.

"Who knows? Probably not him..." said Chloe, Stitch grinning.

"And the other?" asked Spider-Man

Chloe said, "Failed design. Johnson mothballed it...literally it seems."

"Ok, so alien pods collected, mission accomplished, time to go home," said Spider-Man before pausing, "Wait, spider-sense saying it's not over yet."

Stitch yelled "_NALA QUEESTA_!" jumping onto Chris's head and lunging at the pods, just as a hail of plasma bolts from the vault's rafters peppered Chloe and Chris.

"Stitch! Bad alien!" snapped Chloe.

"_Nala queesta_!" snapped Stitch, jumping down before picking up the singularity gun and firing a shot that just missed, an entire rack of items being compressed into a marble.

"Well, that saves us a load, but put the gun down!" snapped Chloe.

Stitch just laughed madly, aiming at Spider-Man and the pods before firing again, the shot going wide and hitting a water pipe.

Naturally, that caused a lot of water to spray down. Spider-Man jumped to the side and muttered, "Don't get wet, don't get wet." Unfortunately, there was a hole in the container, a single drop of water landing on the 000 pod, which began to shake. The pod suddenly turned into a ball of light that started growing inside the container.

"Spidey, drop it!" yelled Chris.

Spider-Man tossed the container away just as the ball of light gave a bigger flash, shattering the container. Standing in its place was an odd-looking creature. It resembled Stitch a lot, except his fur was black and his nose was purple. But the right side of his head and his arms had been replaced with cybernetic parts, as well as having three spiderlike robot legs.

It looked around, seemingly confused before it looked at Stitch, before grinning insanely and firing a shot at him.

"The heck is that?" snapped Chloe,

"How should I know?" snapped Chris before ducking as the cyborg started firing blasts everywhere while cackling madly.

"I don't care how I got here, but if I get another shot at 626 it can't be too bad..." laughed the cyber experiment, before pausing, looking around. "Oooooh Stiiiitch...come out and play. No spaceships now or no little kids to hide behind...come out!" he said insanely, giggling.

He swept his arm around to look for Stitch, but just then, his robot eye started flashing and he froze in place. "Uh, did someone hit the lock button on him?" asked Spider-Man.

* * *

"Good morning, 000...or Cyber, if you prefer. My name's Omnirus, and I made sure you got loose today..." said the text in Cyber's vision, adding, "Yes I can hear you."

"Where am I? Why did you reactivate me? And more importantly, why are you keeping me from blasting 626?" Cyber texted back.

"That's not 626, you mechanical moron. That's a clone called Leroy...and he works for me. He can disguise himself. The one firing blasts from the rafters is a 700 series experiment called Kala. If you harm them...well, I can send a virus that will literally melt your mind to the brain power of a vegetable..." came the reply.

"If you don't want me blasting them, then why reactivate me?" asked Cyber.

"Because you are useful to my plans on this world. The humans, feel free to kill as many as you want. But no nova bombs," said the reply.

"Why would I want to work for you?" asked Cyber.

"You'll get to cause mass mayhem and go to other worlds," came the reply.

"I'm in," said Cyber instantly.

"One more thing, I need you to attach something to the female human," came the message before a warning in red said, "DON'T KILL HER OR IT'S YOUR HEAD" A schematic for a device as well as a list for the necessary parts to build it was sent to Cyber's processor.

"Fine...I won't kill her...on purpose," muttered Cyber, before coming back to the physical world from his little cyberverse to see the red and blue suited human in front of him.

* * *

"Oh, too easy," he said out loud, readying all his blasters. However, the human shot something sticky over the barrel of his blasters before he could fire. "Hey, those are my fav...uh oh...HOT POTATO!" he said, throwing the blaster at the other male.

"Back at you!" yelped Spider-Man, tossing it back.

"Erm...it's your birthday, happy birthday," yelped Cyber, throwing it to Chloe.

"Merry Christmas," said Chloe, tossing it to Chris.

"It's not Christmas," he said, tossing it back.

"Happy Hanukah!" yelped Chloe, throwing it to Cyber.

"One potato," said Cyber, tossing it Spider-Man.

"Two potato," said Spider-Man, tossing it to Chris.

Chris yelped, "Three potato!" landing it on Cyber who said triumphantly, "Hah, I win" before the blasters exploded, sending him sailing deeper into the vault.

"Well, that takes care of him," said Chloe, "So where'd Stitch go?" A second later, Stitch landed on her back, holding something and laughing. "Get off!" snapped Chloe, slamming her back against the shelves. Stitch just laughed, slapping the device on her chest before jumping off and rolling away.

"Get back here, you little-" snapped Chloe before looking at the brooch on her chest, "What the heck is this?" The brooch sparked for a second before falling off. "Oh boy..." said Chloe, seeing the design...an old empire design.

"You alright, Chloe?" asked Chris with worry.

"Urgh...heartburn," she said, her eyes briefly becoming a solid iris before back again.

"Uh, should we be worried?" asked Spider-Man.

"It'll take more than that to-" started Chloe before burping, "Ugh, excuse me."

* * *

"You IDIOT, LEROY!" snapped Omnirus, via hologram in one of the base vents, Kala helping patch up Cyber with some parts she'd stolen from the vault.

"I put it on her like you told me to," said Leroy.

"Did you remember to reset it to compensate for the extra electricity?" snapped Omnirus, before sighing, "Ok, you did part of the mission. We got Cyber...what's left of him. Now we just need the other one."

"Not gonna be so easy now," said Leroy.

"Yes, because you jumped the gun," said Omnirus.

"You told me to dose her, I did," snapped Leroy.

Cyber laughed. "You guys couldn't rescue a slice of cake."

"Maybe you can do better, piecemeal," snapped Leroy.

"Has it occurred to you that she might need a bigger dose?" said Cyber.

"Come to think of it, Chloe wasn't 'born' an experiment," said Omnirus, "Not to mention she has werewolf DNA as well as dragon."

"Exactly. Kala, she started life as that...rather nice show of an experiment. But this Chloe, you'll need at least another dose," said Cyber, Leroy fuming.

"It's a good thing I sent you those schematics then," said Omnirus.

"I already made one," said Cyber, his remaining cyber arm opening to reveal a modified blaster. "One shot and she's one of us," he said smugly, adding "It's missing one thing...needs a mutating agent..."

"You're at an anti-Hulk military base," said Omnirus, "They're bound to have a gamma reactor around there somewhere."

"Gamma radiation, that could do it. If we get the dose right and don't microwave her," said Cyber, yelping as Kala welded a new blaster arm into the cyber socket in his shoulder.

"Just keep your destructiveness in check," said Omnirus.

* * *

"You destroyed half the vault!" snapped Talbot.

Chloe was shaking a little as Chris said, "And you got enough illegal alien tech that you're lucky our government didn't send a special forces team in."

"Unless you have an officially-sanctioned warrant, you had no right to be taking anything else from that vault. And certainly no right to be streaking in my base," snapped Talbot.

"Um, streaking?" asked Spider-Man.

"The NSC could take this base apart from orbit. We don't need a fucking warrant!" snarled Chris before pausing "I'm sorry, streaking?"

"Will you guys shut up?!" snapped Chloe, "We have genetic experiments on the loose in here! We don't have time to be bickering about warrants or authority or other blitznak like that!" Then she paused and asked, "What was that about streaking?"

"We found your companion's clothing in Sector 9...minus her. Naturally we're confisca-" said Talbot.

"No, you already have enough contraband in here. You're not taking any more stuff," snapped Chloe.

Chris adding, "Any one of those things in that vault could destroy several lightyears." before he said "Now we need to find those experiments..."

"You guys aren't concerned that Kala has been vaporized?" asked Spider-Man.

"Oh, she hasn't been vaporized," said Talbot dismissively, "There'd be a scorch mark, a pile of ash, radiation traces. It's clear that she just decided to strip and run off for whatever lunatic reason."

"I'm sure there's a perfectly sane reason for this," said Chris.

"Yeah, maybe she just got hit with a shrink ray," said Spider-Man. Chris and Chloe stared at him. "It could happen," said Spider-Man.

Chloe walked over to Talbot and said happily just loud enough for him, "If one of your toys hurt Kala in any way, there is no force on Earth that will stop my brother coming in and incinerating this entire facility...and you..." She patted him on the back and added, "And that includes insulting her too..."

"Maybe I should look for her," said Chris, "With my nose, it shouldn't be hard to find her."

"Ok, I'll sniff out the tin can experiment and keep the last pod on me," said Chloe, pocketing the 701 pod.

"Then I better stay with you," said Spider-Man, "Those experiments are probably going to go after you."

"Ok, just remember: web em tight and they can't swim," said Chloe.

"Yeah...can't think of how that last part will be of any use here," said Spider-Man.

"They hate water...and it'll short out the cyborg too," said Chloe, the two heading down a corridor.

"Uh, was Chris right about your government just nuking this place from orbit?" asked Spider-Man.

"No...Matt'd do it first if Kala got hurt on that jerk's watch," said Chloe, checking her scanner.

"Well, I'm sure Kala can't be in that bad shape," said Spider-Man.

"She's not really the type to go nude for a laugh," said Chloe dryly.

Her comm buzzed to life at that, a scared panting heard. "Hello?" said Kala's voice.

"Kala? Is that you? Where are you?" asked Chloe, sounding anxious.

"The gamma lab, the deserted one in sector 12. The fake Stitch grabbed me. It's Leroy..." panted Kala.

Chloe gave an exasperated groan and said, "Leroy, I should have known. It was so obvious."

"Who's Leroy?" asked Spider-Man.

"Stitch's evil twin. Well, evil clone," said Chloe.

"Evil clones are the worst," said Spider-Man.

"We need to hurry. Leroy's unpredictable," said Chloe, running for it.

"Uh, shouldn't we be grabbing radiation suits on the way?" asked Spider-Man.

"Why are you worried?" asked Chloe, "You already have radioactive blood."

"I don't-" began Spider-Man, but Chloe was already round the corner.

When Chloe came to a set of heavy doors with radioactive symbols on them, she knew she was at the right place. The armed guards were also a good tipoff. "Hey, this area's off limits," snapped one of them, aiming at Chloe, who twitched, her eyes going almond again before she grinned.

Spider-Man came around the corner saying, "You know, I tell people the spider that bit me was radioactive but it's just so-" He stopped when he saw the guards had been beaten senseless and the doors open.

"They got in my way," said Chloe with an insane familiar grin, last seen on Leroy.

"Uh, Chloe, you sure that brooch didn't do anything?" asked Spider-Man.

"I'm...I'm fine," said Chloe, taking a deep breath, before shining a light into the room.

Kala called out, "I'm in the back...are they out there?"

"Chloe, my spider-sense says don't go in there," said Spider-Man.

"I can't leave Kala in there," said Chloe.

Spider-Man said, "She's bait."

"You think I don't know that?" snapped Chloe.

"I'm thinking you don't," said Spider-Man.

Chloe glared before turning activating her armor helmet, using its scanner. "Erm...there's no humans in there..." she said.

Kala's cries ended with a sigh. "Oh well," she said, the far door slamming down.

"I'm gonna go ahead and say 'I told you so'," said Spider-Man, "Might not get a chance to later."

A green glow was seen, getting closer. "Oh no, please tell me that's not what I think it is," said Chloe, before Cyber's shape was seen in the dark, Chloe glaring and firing several dehydrator blasts at it.

However, Cyber batted them away with his arms. "Not gonna be that easy this time," he said with a cackle. Chloe glared, before aiming her palm and sending a blast of lighting, Cyber managing a "Ok, someone's telling me all she-" before he was blasted to the back of the lab.

"Easy with the lightning," said Spider-Man, "There's a gamma reactor here, remember?"

"_Meega_ know. We needed parts," said Leroy running into view before throwing a worktop at Spider-Man with a cackle.

Spider-Man caught it and said, "I take it back. You're not cute and fluffy."

Leroy just laughed insanely, readying his extra arms and his blasters before firing randomly, Cyber getting up unsteadily. "Ok...that hurt..." he said angrily, before smirking, readying a blaster, the back of it glowing, and aiming it at Chloe, who just raised an eyebrow, surrounding herself with a lightning shield.

"You know, electricity's not a good defense against gamma energy," he said before firing his blaster. The green ray passed right through the shield and hit Chloe.

"That tickled. What was it suppose...to..." she began, stopping as she began twitching.

"Wait, did you say gamma energy? As in 'turns people into Hulks' gamma energy?" asked Spider-Man, "Is she going to Hulk out?"

"Opposite end of the spectrum, actually," said Cyber.

Chloe seemed to be shrinking a bit as Cyber said, "Once upon a time, some idiot human thought to try and make a mutagen out of my family's blood. Called it EXP, apparently, corny name. And some poor girl called Chloe Lynch got herself infected. Sad thing is all the cure does is turn the virus off...and I just switched it into overdrive."

The armor seemed to be deflating as Chloe was shrinking inside. Before long, it couldn't stay up and fell over. "Goodbye, pain in the butt human. Hello, experiment 785," laughed Cyber.

"Uh...Chloe?" asked Spider-Man, picking up the helmet's armor and peering down the neck. A second layer, a purple furred experiment tried to latch onto his face. Spider-Man's reflexes saved him from losing his mask and face. "I'm guessing this is what you did to Kala," he said.

"_Gata de baga_," snapped the purple one, its paws crackling.

"Yeah, yeah, I got tazer powers too," said Spider-Man, shooting his tazer webs at the purple experiment.

The purple experiment juddered before pausing mid-zap, laughing as the tazers went dead the batteries draining in seconds. "She eats electricity," said Kala's voice, Spider-Man turning to see a pink and red experiment.

Spider-Man paused to look between the experiments that were Kala and Chloe, noticing they were identical asides from color scheme. "Uh, did your creators get lazy and couldn't come up with original designs?" he asked.

Kala snarled, before looking like she was about to hurl. "Please tell me that's not acid loogey," said Spider-Man.

Kala spat a glowing blue blast, narrowly missing Spider-Man and melting the blast door. "Oh _fubu_," muttered Kala.

"Thanks for opening the door," said Spider-Man before running out.

"Get him!" snapped Cyber, before noticing that Chloe was glaring at him before she said "Yes...lets chase him and all get caught."

"Who put you in charge?" asked Cyber, poking Chloe. She grabbed his servo and judo-flipped him into a wall.

"We don't need to chase him," said Leroy, reaching into a pouch in Chloe's oversized armor and pulling out the experiment pod, "We got what we want."

Chloe glared. "You brought me back over a pod?" she said in disbelief.

"You're a bonus," said Leroy.

'Chloe' turned to glare at that, Kala sighed. "784, don't be such a prude. Leroy, don't antagonize someone an entire series above you."

"Whose pod is that anyways?" groaned Cyber.

"701," said Leroy.

"Hmm...always thought he'd be bigger," said the experiment Chloe had become, looking at Cyber with a smirk, before taking 701's pod and spitting on it.

The pod didn't really react. "You need more liquid," said Leroy, before yanking out a coolant tube. 784 jumped out the way as Leroy cracked it over the pod, the pod activating.

In a flash of light, a new experiment was there. She looked a lot like a dark purple rabbit, though her long ears were a bit more elephantine in appearance, her right ear having two earrings in it. She had blond hair in the form of a faux-hawk that partly covered one eye. "You?" asked Kala, showing a lot of chagrin, frustration, and dread.

The new experiment smirked and said, "What's wrong, 777? No love for your big sister Dark Start?"

Kala paused before grinning. "Yeah...been too long," she said.

Dark Start raised an eyebrow. "You're happy to see me?" she asked.

"Of course. You think I'd defend my big sis?" said Kala.

Dark Start smiling before she saw Cyber...and blasted him into a wall. "YOU!" she snarled, her eyes glowing red, and literally on fire.

"Stop hurting me," whined Cyber.

"Yeah...I remember my sis asking you to do the same," sneered Dark Start.

Leroy poked his earpiece and said, "Boss, Dark Start's up."

"About time, put me on holo," said Omnirus.

"Cyber, start projecting," said Leroy.

Cyber's cyborg eye lit up before it displayed a hologram. After a bit of rendering, the hologram took on the image of a young woman that had a very strong resemblance to Chloe, only with longer hair, a more exaggerated figure, and wearing a black halter top and shorts combo, the belt of the shorts had a busted dial on it.

Dark Start stared for a minute before staring at the dial...then smirking "Someone broke their Omnitrix," she sang tauntingly.

"Yeah, that was fun," said Kala.

"You knew how that happened?" asked Chloe, or rather, Silvia.

"You weren't there at the time," said Kala, "Omnirus tried to get payback on you, well, Chloe, but she mistook Hannah for her. Long story short, she her Omnitrix broke worse and got even girlier."

Dark Start paused, before falling backwards, laughing. Omnirus, to her credit, just facepalmed and said, "Get it out your system."

"Wait, this is the guy I'm working for?" asked Cyber.

"Don't laugh, I need you to hold the connection," said Omnirus.

"No...please laugh...it's too funny..." managed Dark Start, Kala laughing too, before Silvia snapped "Knock it off, knuckleheads."

"So, what's the plan for getting out of here?" asked Leroy.

"Well, I had it planned out, but then you had to start shooting things out and letting everyone know you're there," said Omnirus.

"So now what?" asked Leroy.

"I think you'll figure your own way out," said Omnirus.

Silvia said smugly, "You're not gonna desert us. Not after going to all this trouble..."

Omnirus glaring. "Well, anyways, there is more tech in that base that I'll need," said Omnirus, "Assuming you haven't already broken it."

The experiments all glared at Leroy, who smirked, extending one of his arms. "One Galvan DNA core," he said.

Kala said, "Good, we can get out of here."

"Great, if only someone hadn't set off every alarm and let them know we're here," said Silvia.

"Take the vents," said Omnirus, "No one ever looks in there."

Leroy nodded, "Yeah...what about the other pod?"

Omnirus paused. "What other pod?"

Leroy said, "The note on the container said there was three."

"There was?" asked Omnirus, "There were only supposed to be two."

Leroy smirked, "Big bad boss only checked the computers..." Omnirus glaring before vanishing.

"Whoever it is isn't worth going back for," said Dark Start dismissively, "Let's just get out of here."

Omnirus re-appeared. "Another 701? I'm not letting those idiotic mercs get it. Find that pod NOW!" she snapped, her eyes glowing before Cyber hung up on her with a yawn.

"For all we know, that pod has rolled into the bottom of the garbage disposal," said Dark Start, "How are we supposed to comb the whole base for it?"

Kala smirked. "I spent the first year pod hunting. That vault was full of condensation puddles. She's probably active and loose in the base. Probably has been for years without anyone noticing," she said, before the group heard footsteps. And they weren't light footsteps, they were loud thuds of something really heavy and big.

The gang turned slowly to see several green hulking power armors. "Ok...I want one," said Cyber, before a shot knocked one of his arms off.

"CHEESE IT! yelled Kala, the group scattering as a hail of heavy particle cannon fire was shot at them by the Hulkbuster team. Fortunately, the Hulkbusters were designed to take down Hulks, not deal with creatures that were much smaller and faster.

"In the vents!" yelped Cyber, the group legging it into different vents, Kala making the mistake of choosing a vertical vent.

"Oops," was all that Kala had to say before she went tumbling down.

* * *

When Spider-Man reported back to Chris, he was...less than pleased. Thankfully, he took out his displeasure on Talbot. "You...sent in...a kill team...against the two people who regularly stop Matt going nuclear...literally," said Chris in a voice shaking with rage.

"They're the enemy now," said Talbot unapologetically.

"Ok...so...you have any magic swords? Any dragonsbane rounds? Any weapons that can kill a creature made of pure plasma energy?" said Chris, getting a smile that was a little too wide.

"We have the best anti-gamma weapons there are," said Talbot.

"Gamma, right. I don't think plasma is part of the gamma spectrum," said Chris.

"I don't think that's the right term," said Spider-Man.

"It doesn't matter because they're not gonna work on him!" snapped Chris. Chris grabbed Talbot at that. "Matt took down an entire corporate private army, trained professionals. He will go through your men without breaking a drop of sweat. And then he'll probably, physically bite your head off..._after_ he's turned me into a rug and a head on the wall!" he snarled, his eyes going lupine.

"Calm down," said Spider-Man, "We can fix this mess before Matt knows about this."

Chris paused, before dropping Talbot. "Good point. If we work fast, we can catch them, dehydrate them, convince matt they're at a spa and stall him till I can get the coffee base lab to ready some anti-virus to cure them...and nobody will know..." he said, a little manic.

Talbot gave Spider-Man a worried look and asked, "Is he normally this high-strung?"

"Not sure," said Spider-Man, "Haven't known him that long."

Chris however had a distant look.

* * *

"I warned you…" giggled Matt, Chris tied to a table, a laser slowly running up the center of the table towards him.

"Do you expect me to apologize?" said Chris.

Matt giggled, "No, Mr. Anderson, I expect you to squeal..."

* * *

Spider-Man and Talbot jumped as Chris suddenly yelled, "I DON'T WANNA SQUEAL!"

"Ok, no caffeine for you until we grab those little gremlins," said Spider-Man.

"Yes. Your men said they went in the vents. Experiments can't breathe syronite gas. It's harmless to anyone else but it's like elephant tranquilizer and tear gas rolled into one. We never used it, but some colonies used it to contain outbreaks," said Chris calmly.

"Outbreaks?" asked Talbot with concern.

"No need to worry here...and its classified," said Chris smugly.

"Uh-huh, and how are we gonna fish them out when they're out-cold?" asked Spider-Man.

"Trust me, the tear gas part comes first. They won't wanna stay in there," said Chris.

"Fine, let's flush those rats out of there," said Talbot.

* * *

Kala groaned, trying to get the stars out of her vision, to see she was on a pile of fatigues, being used as a makeshift bed. "What the? Who lives inside the ventilation system in a secret military base?" asked Kala, sniffing the 'bed'.

"777, you're awake," said a timid voice.

"Who's there?" asked Kala, looking around.

She looked to see a green furred experiment, similar to Dark Start, but with small horns visible. "You fell into my hiding place. Did that General Ross jerk catch you too?" she said.

"Never heard of him," said Kala.

"He used to run this place..." said the experiment.

Kala smirked. "I remember you...Little Zero," she said.

The experiment frowned and said, "I always hated that name."

"You got zero on your test run, Zero. That's why Dark Start got your ID," smirked Kala with an evil grin.

"Oh, just because I don't like causing mindless destruction automatically makes me a failure," said the experiment with annoyance.

"You smashed the test colony to bits instead of making a forest. You're useless," sneered Kala, pushing the experiment back. "You're the one Omnirus wants..." she said, readying a plasma blast.

"Omni-what?" asked the experiment.

"The new boss," said Kala, aiming, "So, thanks for saving me...goodbye, Zero." firing, the experiment staggering, before twitching. "Huh, you're hardier than I remember," said Kala.

"And you're…back to being...a jerk...oh...and my name...is ZIRA!" snapped the experiment.

Suddenly, the experiment started growing rapidly in size. Her body was also reshaping into a more feminine but muscular figure. The small horns on her head grew bigger and jagged. When she had finished growing, she was about human height, if not a little bigger, with a figure that several superheroines had.

Kala looked around properly, seeing she was in. "THIS IS AN OLD REACTOR HOUSING!" she snapped, before yelping as the giant (from her view) experiment picked her up.

"What's her name?" she smirked at Kala.

"Er, nice to meet you. I'm Kala," said Kala nervously.

"I'm Kira..." smirked the hulk experiment, squeezing.

"Nice...grip..." gasped Kala.

"You and Dark Start always made her life miserable. A nightmare, all of you...till the cyborg almost beat you into jam. Then she looked after you. Maybe we need a repeated show?" said Kira, Kala getting a paw free.

"Nope," she said, shooting Kira down the throat.

Kira blinked before belching flames right into Kala's face. "My turn," Kira sneered before slamming Kala into the ground.

"Ow," groaned Kala, "You're gonna give yourself away, you know."

"This entire level's deserted. It's just you...and us..." said Kira, grinning evilly, before bringing another fist down.

* * *

Inside Zira and Kira's shared mind, the two of them were having a disagreement. "What are you doing?" snapped Zira, "You can't just beat the stuffing out of her."

"It's worked the last time," snapped Kira, who looked like a color swapped version of Zira, the real-world view being shown on a TV. "Ooooh...that'll hurt," she cackled.

Zira snapped, "Not this way. She has to choose...like the originals did on Hawaii."

"That old story again?" asked Kira, "Don't give me that old 'o'hana' lecture again."

"It's true...and I'm not gonna let you hurt my little sis," snapped Zira.

"Don't think she shares the same sentiment," said Kira.

"That's cause you're beating her to death," snapped Zira.

Kira looked at the TV and said, "Oh, looks like you're right. Guess you need to take over for a bit."

* * *

Kala crawled towards one of the hatches, before she heard a crackling noise and she flinched as a paw touched her. "No, no, no more," she whimpered.

_She turned slowly to see her in the old Pan Pacific lab, in the test arena...and Cyber, his claws covered in pink, walking towards her. "No more? But we're just getting started," he said._

_"I...I can't..." said Kala weakly._

_"Maybe you're just not cut out for combat," said Cyber, his claw being replaced by a hook._

_A faint voice said, "Cyber, that's enough. Someone get syronite gas in there." Cyber smirking before slashing at Kala, the hallucination parting to show Zira._

"Kala, are you alright?" asked Zira, "Kira didn't want to beat you up that much."

"Get away!" yelped Kala, trying to get back, Zira backing up.

"I'm sorry. I dunno where Kira came from. I've been hiding in this place for years," she said sadly.

Kala paused before saying, "You do realize this is an old reactor housing, right?"

"So?" asked Zira.

"You know what gamma radiation does around here, right?" asked Kala.

"So? I didn't think it was a problem. We can breathe in space," said Zira pointedly.

"You've been living next to radiation for years," said Kala pointedly.

"Even roaches would be affected by that."

Zira blinked before asking a cockroach on the wall, "Is that true?"

The roach shrugged. "Hey, I feel fine," it said.

Kala just facepalmed at that before getting her communicator. "Guys...guys..." she hissed, while Zira had a conversation with the roach.

After a crackle, Silvia's voice, "Where are you?"

"In some old reactor housing. I found the wayward pod and it's active. It's Zero," she said quietly.

"I'm Zero," said Cyber.

"No, 701-A, was the nickname she got after she flunked her prototyping," hissed Kala, adding "Sis'll know who I mean."

"Zira? Oh yeah, I remember her. She was our old punching bag," said Dark Start.

"She's back. Dark Start, you ever heard of the hulk?" whispered Kala.

Dark Start grinned. "Best comic ever...oh no…" she said, her smile falling.

"Yeah, she's been living in near gamma radiation long enough to pick up something," said Kala.

"You gotta be kidding...to be honest, I did wonder about the snout-bleed," said Dark Start.

"Snout-bleed?" asked Kala, touching her nose. She looked down to see pink. "That..." she said weakly.

Cyber said, "Lure her out. We're in a base designed to handle Hulks."

"Yeah, she'll be the distraction and we'll get away," said Leroy.

"Ok...I'll lure her out," she said, cutting the com, before turning to see Zira snapping at the roach in tantalog. "Ze...Zira...we should get outta here."

"What's the rush?" asked Zira.

"Well, I don't wanna be a Hulk. And...I know some people who can get us out," said Kala.

"Like who? Lazard?" asked Zira.

"Urm...yeah...two of his friends are here," said Kala.

"Can we trust them?" asked Zira.

"Of course," lied Kala, "In fact, one of them is too trusting."

Zira nodded. "Ok, you don't wanna go out that hatch. It's full of gamma waste barrels," she said, pointing to the hatch Kala had been going for, before a small plant in the corner turned into a huge vine, shooting up to the vent in the roof Kala had fallen through. "I've been practicing," said Zira proudly.

"And you wondered how you got gamma-mutated," said Kala dryly.

"I was thirsty. I thought it was ecto cooler," said Zira.

"Ecto cooler? What kinda idiot mistakes gamma waste for a drink?" snapped Kala, opening a vent.

"You probably don't want to hear what I ate," said Zira as she followed.

* * *

"Ok, gas is being made. I'll put a data worm in their comp to wipe the recipe," said Chris, he and Spider-Man deep in the base. Chris had gotten the bright idea to scan for Kala's com and they'd gotten a hit on a mothballed floor.

"If it only affects genetic experiments, why wipe it?" asked Spider-Man.

"Because they could modify it to affect others or make something worse," said Chris.

Chris jumped as his com beeped at that, Matt's headshot appearing. "Accept call?" said the communicator happily.

"Maybe I should let this go to voicemail," said Chris.

"Remote override," said the communicator, Matt's face appearing. "Chris, I disabled your voicemail years ago," he said, Chris yelping.

"Hey Matt, what's up?" asked Chris, trying to sound casual.

"Megan got the local Chloe...and the local me. You got the pods? Some experiment backup would help. Tried calling sis but her com's down."

"Yeah, those guys are being a bit more of a handful than we counted on," said Chris.

"I wanna speak to my sister...or Kala..." said Matt

"They're in the ladies' room right now," said Chris.

"Put...them...on..." said Matt, his eyes glowing red.

"Oh, look at the time," said Chris before hanging up. "He's gonna kill me later," said Chris to Spider-Man.

* * *

Matt stared at the blank screen. "Armor...status of users, Chloe and Kala," he said darkly.

"Status: vacant," said the armor's computer.

Matt got a blank expression before he said, "Silvana...ever wanted to storm a military base?"

* * *

"Ok...Matt probably won't kill me if I can produce Chloe and Kala. Do we care what happens to Talbot?" said Chris.

"Probably shouldn't let him come to harm," said Spider-Man.

"Fine..." muttered Chris, before his ears twitched at the same time that Spider-Man's spider-sense went to DEFCON 1.

The two ducked into a corner as the experiments kicked a vent open and fell out. "Ok, we catch Zira, knock her out, and we all head back to the boss. Easy as pie," said Leroy.

"Mmm...pie. Think we can raid the mess hall?" asked Cyber.

"Later," snapped 'Chloe' slapping the back of Cyber's head.

"Who put you in charge?" snapped Cyber.

"Let's just get out of here already," said Leroy.

"Yeah..._after_ I give that little plant wuss some payback," said Dark Start, the group moving towards the disused reactor room.

"They do not sound like a nice group of friends," said Spider-Man, "Who's the 'plant wuss'?"

"No idea...maybe we miscounted the pods?" muttered Chris, the two ducking back as Cyber looked in their direction.

Cyber looked about to start towards them when Silvia grabbed him by his organic ear. "Move it, you walking Swiss army knife!" snapped Silvia, dragging him along.

"Ok, we need to follow them. From the sound of things, that new experiment isn't gonna go willingly," muttered Chris.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want them dragging off anyone," said Spider-Man as they moved to follow.

* * *

"How much further? We've gone around in circles." said Zira, annoyed.

"You live here, I thought you would know the exit," said Kala.

"You said you know the way," said Zira angrily, her eyes glowing green...and not the normal green of experiment night vision.

"Take it easy. We aren't that lost," said Kala in a worried tone.

"Fine..." said Zira, before pausing, a dart in her neck before falling on her face, Cyber walking into view.

"That's the dangerous one? You sure you're back to normal, 777?" he taunted.

"You didn't see her bulk up," said Kala.

"Yeah, yeah, so scary," said Silvia, walking up and prodding Zira. "Ok, Cyber, make us an exit rip. I want a nice clean teleport," she said, nobody noticing as Zira was webbed and pulled away.

"Too much gamma radiation down here," said Cyber, "It'll mess up the teleportation."

"Then compensate. We're not leaving this dimension, we just need a site to site," snapped Silvia.

"Did you test that teleportation with Zero?" asked Dark Start.

"No," said Cyber.

"Then where did she go?" asked Dark Start, indicating where Zira had been.

Silvia glared. "Lynch is here. SPREAD OUT! FIND THEM!" she yelled.

Leroy sniffed the air and said, "Not smelling him."

"Then it's one of his team, find them. Cyber, has that EXP drone still got a charge in it?" she snapped.

* * *

Zira meanwhile had her mouth covered, the two watching as the experiments looked, Zira looking at Spider-Man before hugging his midsection, saying "_Katu...katu..._"

"Uh, there, there?" said Spider-Man uncertainly.

"_Ika nu lata ni guti_?" said the little green experiment.

"Uh, my SHIELD tech doesn't come with a universal translator," said Spider-Man.

"She's saying thank you..." said Chris, the experiment nodding with a wide grin that sadly showed off the sharp teeth.

"I'll take your word for it," said Spider-Man.

Chris looked at her, "Ok...how long have you been here?"

The experiment shrugging, "_Zula ne_?"

Chris blanched. "3 years?"

"How could they have noticed an alien running around their base for three years?" asked Spider-Man.

The experiment shook her head, "_Zula _ne," She said, scratching 30 into the metal on the wall like it was paper.

"Wow, you look in pretty good shape for living in secrecy that long," said Spider-Man, patting her head.

The experiment grinned more at that, her hands behind her back before she screamed as the back wall glowed and melted, Cyber and Silvia in view. "Zero, there you are. It's time to go home," said Silvia, a shadow solidifying into a black energy blade in her paw.

"Chloe?" asked Chris.

"I did mention how she and Kala have been made small and fuzzy, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"Oh, Chris, it's been so long...since NegaMorph threw me to Omnirus," said Silvia smugly, the green experiment growling at her.

"Uh, I'm sure there's been other times. I mean, you've shown up when Chloe gave into her Virk impulses," said Chris.

"That was the Virk Silvia, I'm the EXP Silvia," snapped Silvia.

"There's a difference?" asked Chris.

"Oh please, the Virk was an AI copycat," said Silvia, looking down in surprise as vines crashed out the floor and cocooned her.

"_Meega nana queesta_...hah," laughed the green experiment her horns glowing, before she screamed as black blades slashed the vines apart.

Silvia smirked, unharmed, even Cyber backing up. "I'm the real thing...experiment 784..." she said with a mock bow.

"There were 700 series experiments after Kala?" asked Chris in surprise.

Silvia laughed as Spider-Man saw to the green experiment. "Before father was forced to relocate from Pan Pacific, he was almost ready to make the first 800 series," she said.

"Wow, so are you the real 784 or just a copy of her?" asked Chris.

"The real thing. I was...used as the prototype for the first EXP. Not pleasant...but still," said Silvia, before flicking a blade that stopped an inch from Chris. "Now give me that useless Zero or I'll show you how nasty I can be."

The green experiment's eyes shot open, glowing. "_Meega_...not...ZERO!" she snapped, growing into the hulk form.

Everyone was stunned motionless by the unexpected transformation, though Spider-Man recovered the quickest. "Uh, could she do that before?" he asked.

"Not usually," said Chris, before the larger experiment charged Silvia who threw several blades. However, the blades either bounced off or merely nicked Kira before she got within range and punched Silvia clear to the other side of the room.

"Oh no," mumbled Chris, as the experiment roared and ran after her.

"Was that...a Hulk?" said Spider-Man.

Cyber shrugged. "Maybe she's not so bad after all? You however..." he said before firing at them.

"You got a warranty on that tech?" asked Spider-Man before using his tazer web on the cyborg.

"Owowowow...you little pest, daaance…" laughed Cyber, firing rapid fire at Spider-Man, not caring that he was doing damage. Chris charged at Cyber, morphing into Wolf-Bat as he ran. Cyber turned in shock before grabbing Wolf-Bat's arm with his mechanical hand. "Nice try...but I was designed too well," he sneered, throwing Wolf-Bat to the side before he turned in time to be kicked flying.

"Not well enough to handle a tag-team," said Spider-Man before shooting webbing over Cyber's face.

"Hey! Get off me, you little pest!" snapped Cyber as he got covered in more webbing, Chris readying an aerosol canister, before he was grabbed from behind and smashed into the wall.

"Ow," said Chris with annoyance, looking to see Kala growling at him. Spider-Man ran to help him, only for Dark Start to jump in front of him.

"Get back in your top hat, flopsy," said Spider-Man, shooting webbing at her.

Dark Start's eyes glowed red before the webbing ignited. "You first," she giggled, picking up an empty barrel and throwing it at Spider-Man.

Spider-Man webbed the barrel before throwing it back at her.

"Oh no," muttered Dark Start before the barrel was blasted out the way by Kala.

"Hey Kala, how about fighting for the right team?" asked Spider-Man.

"I am..." laughed Kala, spitting a plasma blast before she snapped, "Where the heck is Silvia?"

* * *

Silvia yelped dodging blow after blow as the hulked-out experiment tried to pulp her. "Why am I being targeted?!" yelped Silvia.

"You called me ZERO!" snapped the hulked-out Zira before managing to grab Chloe.

"Is that really the worst name you've ever been called?" asked Silvia dryly.

"MY NAME...IS...ZIRA!" snarled Zira, throwing Silvia through the wall and into several barrels, a glowing green goop covering her.

"Ugh, oh God! Oh, it's everywhere! It's getting in everything! Oh God!" cried Silvia.

"Gamma!" laughed Zira, Silvia twitching as the radiation got everywhere.

Then she said with a completely different tone, "Why am I covered with glowing green goo and who do I have to punish for this?"

Zira paused at that, glaring. "784, this better not be a trick," she said angrily.

"78-what?" asked the goo-covered experiment as she tried to stand up, though the radioactive waste was a lot slipperier than it looked.

Zira peered closer, 'Silvia' glaring before trying to punch her, causing a crack and her to stare at her paw. "The...HECK?" she said angrily.

"I believe Leroy and Cyber are the reason you're so small," said Kira.

"What...oh...now I remember...where are they?" snapped Silvia.

"Cyber's over there, not sure where Leroy is right now," said Kira.

Silvia proceeded to practically howl "CYYYYBEEEER!"

Cyber, who was busy trying to get out of his web cocoon, paused and said, "Uh oh."

"YOU...GET OVER HERE!" snapped Chloe, yelping as a black blade shot out at Cyber from her pointed claw.

"Yeah, even if I could, I definitely don't want to," said Cyber.

Chloe, meanwhile, was staring at her claws. "Ok...new..." she said weakly before twitching.

"You know, as much as I'd like to delve into this situation, let's put it on hold," said Spider-Man before webbing up Chloe.

Chris called, "Not gonna hold her." before firing his dehydrator at her, Chloe looking surprised before glowing and shrinking into a small mauve ball marked 784.

"Nice shot," sneered Cyber, shooting Chris in the back, before he paused.

"What's going on down there? Did you catch Zero or not?" snapped Omnirus in his comm.

"Some weird wolf thing's causing trouble. They dehydrated 784," said Cyber, blasting a few web shots out the air.

"Well, whatever you're doing is taking too long and I'm not risking all of you getting sun-dried. Get anyone who's still hydrated out of there," said Omnirus.

"I can take these idiots..." said Cyber.

"Do you forget I can fry you? Get out of there and make sure Leroy's among them. He has the core I need," snapped Omnirus.

"Fine," grumbled Cyber before yelling, "Girls, move out or get left out!"

Kala snapped, "But Silvia..."

Dark Start interrupted, "Is dead weight, sis. Let's get out."

"Oh, you're not leaving that easily," said Spider-Man before shooting webs at Kala.

Kala glared, before Dark Start grabbed her. "Not taking her..." snapped Dark Start before blowing a raspberry and shooting a fireball at the chemical barrels.

"Oh no," said Spider-Man before shooting his freeze webs at the barrels.

Chris threw a few cryo grenades too. "Damn," he muttered, realizing the experiments had legged it, leaving just Chloe's pod. "Matts gonna flip..." he muttered.

"Sorry I couldn't stop her," said Zira as she shrunk back to normal size.

"You speak English?" said Spider-Man.

Zira shrugged. "You don't speak Tantalog?" she retorted a little sarcastically.

Chris picked up Chloe's pod and said, "Well, we kept Matt's sister, so he might not slice me in half with a laser."

* * *

"Any last words, Chris?" asked Matt as he pulled the lever, making the log that Chris was tied to move towards the big buzz saw.

"How is this old sawmill even still working?!" yelled Chris.

* * *

Chris jumped as Spider-Man pocked him. "I'm gonna die...he'll set the spiderbots on me..." Chris said faintly.

"Hey, I've felt the same way when I lost Connors to the Lizard," said Spider-Man.

"Was Connors your girlfriend?!" snapped Chris. There was an awkward pause before Chris said, "That didn't come out right."

* * *

Matt decided to not bother with theatrics, simply landing in the square and blowing holes in the ground till he found the elevator. "Oh Chloe, Kala..." called Matt as he flew down the elevator shaft.

A few guards shot at him, the bullets bouncing off his plasma shield. "KAAALA...SAY NOTHING IF YOU WANT ME TO BLOW THIS PLACE UP!" he called, bluffing to get the guards to run.

Just then, Spider-Man came around the corner and said, "Yo, Lazard, what's up?"

"Ah...Spider-Man..." said Matt cheerfully before he said darkly, "Where's Chris?"

"He's around here somewhere," said Spider-Man, "It's like a maze down here."

"And where is Chloe and Kala?" said Matt darkly.

"Chloe is...getting moisturized. This desert heat really dried her out," said Spider-Man.

Matt blinked. "You're a terrible liar. Where are they?" he said, his eyes starting to glow.

"Chloe's nearby," said Spider-Man. "You haven't mentioned Kala..." growled Matt.

"There were...I'm sorry..." said Spider-Man.

Matt blinked before he said, "I'm gonna kill Anderson..."

"It's not as bad as you think," said Spider-Man quickly.

"Explain..." said Matt, the air getting warmer.

"Those experiments that we were after, they, er, oh let's get it over with," said Spider-Man before handing Matt Chloe's experiment pod.

Matt blinked, looking at it, before saying, "So you got the pod...so what?"

"Er, that's actually Chloe's pod," said Spider-Man.

Matt looked down, before twitching. "No...no...noooooo...NOOOOOOO…" he said, his voice getting more manic.

"And I think I should tell you where Kala went from a safe distance," said Spider-Man, web-slinging away.

"No...Chloe? You in there?" giggled Matt, shaking the pod.

Silvana dropped the shaft. "So, where is everyone?" she asked.

"I found Chloe. She lost some weight," giggled Matt insanely, holding up the experiment orb.

Then Spider-Man's voice shouted from down the hall, "And just so you know, Kala has been reverted to her experiment programming and left with the other evil experiments."

Matt blinked before he began glowing.

* * *

Talbot sighed, looking at the footage of the fight on the lower levels...if he didn't have enough trouble trying to convince the joint chiefs to let him try and retake Gamma Base. Suddenly, his office shook as an explosion was heard.

"What in the world?!" he snapped.

He ran out to see several fire response teams putting out blue flames, the 'Lazard' mutate from the news in the middle of it. "What is going on-" started Talbot before noticing a nearby locker was rattling.

He walked over to it and opened to see Chris hiding inside. "I'm not here!" yelled Chris before slamming the door shut.

Talbot raised an eyebrow, Lazard walking over. "He in there?" he said manically.

Talbot briefly considered throwing Chris under the bus. But then again, no one should have to deal with this lunatic. "Didn't see anyone. Is there a reason you're here?" said Talbot, Lazard noting the locker was shaking.

"Who's in there?" asked Lazard.

Chris, from inside, said, "Nobody...you're hallucinating." Lazard snarling and tearing the locker door off. "Mercy," squeaked Chris.

"Why? You lost Kala _and_ Chloe. SHE'S A MARBLE!" snapped Matt, shoving the pod in Chris's face.

"She can be rehydrated," squeaked Chris.

"Ok...rehydrate her..." said Matt, darkly.

"Uh, got water?" asked Chris to Talbot.

* * *

Being dehydrated was a bit like being asleep...albeit being unable to wake up. For most experiments, their brains were wired to handle it. For Chloe, it was a bit maddening. Naturally, the first thing she wanted to do after being reactivated was punch something.

What it felt like was...wonderful, suddenly being able to move. No wonder the experiments were so hyper after waking. Looking around, she noticed a few things, such as her overbearing brother looming over her bushi-bu.

There was also that her overbearing brother was looming over her too...in fact everyone was. "Darn...it wasn't a dream," she said, twitching again.

"She's a lot smaller than I pictured," commented Talbot.

Chloe's eye twitched, "Smaller? Smaller?!"

"Chloe...how...why..." said Matt in shock.

"Stupid trogs rebooted my EXP virus, left me stuck as this midget!" snapped Chloe. Matt blinked before glaring at Chris, Chloe snapping, "Hey...wasn't his fault."

"Then whose was it?!" snapped Matt.

"Leroy, Cyber, and Dark Start," growled Chloe.

"Leroy...the weird clone Lilo mentioned once?" said Matt.

"And one such clone was seen hanging with..." Chloe paused and tried to think. Something was...blocking her memories.

"Chloe...you ok?" said Matt.

Chloe winced, "It's fine, just a headache"

Chris said, "We found an extra one too. I think she's a good guy, but I don't think we want her near the gamma reactors any longer."

"Say what?" asked Matt.

"Yes, there was another cousiiiii...experiment," said Chloe.

"So that's what happened to the third pod," said Talbot.

"You knew?" snarled Chloe

"We just thought it was lost," said Talbot.

"You should have said," said Matt icily, before saying to Chris, "So where is the little monster?"

Spider-Man swung back in and said, "She said something about 'hydrochloric'."

* * *

The old hydroponics lab had been shut down a few weeks ago after a nasty plant virus had wiped out the contents...that was then. Zira was happily indulging her programming by regrowing the dead plants. The place looked like a mini jungle when the gang came in, Zira laughing as she made a giant flower bloom

"Who's Sweetpea over there?" asked Matt.

"That's Zira...apparently," said Chloe, rubbing her jaw.

Zira spotted them before rolling over. "You're the Lazard guy from the news," she said.

"Not the best name," said Matt with annoyance.

"You're Kala's friend?" Zira said.

"Well, yes," said Matt.

"I'm sorry she went bad," said Zira in a quiet voice that caused Matt to imagine a yellow and pink Pegasus.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time," said Matt.

Just then, Silvana walked in. "What was all that yelling about earlier?" she asked. Then she spotted Zira and squealed, "Oh, aren't you just the cutest little thing?" before picking her up and hugging her.

Zira grinned evilly, before chomping Silvana's nose.

The others watched as Silvana thrashed about, trying to get Zira off her nose. "She's lucky it wasn't me she tried to cuddle," said Chloe, "I would have been much rougher."

Zira giggled, finally letting go, Silvana glaring, before she jumped down. "Are you from Pan Pacific?"

"Silvana, I think you're gonna have company in your 'catching-up-with-history' class," said Matt.

"Wait...are you corporate spies?" said Zira suspiciously.

"Furthest thing from them," said Matt, "This...is gonna take a long time to explain."

* * *

"Gimmie, gimme, gimmie!" snapped Omnirus, as soon as the experiments popped out of the teleport.

"You do know this won't be enough to fix your belt, right?" pointed out Dark Start.

"It'll be a start. I'll be able to shift to experiment forms again," said Omnirus, grabbing the core.

"I hope that'll be enough for you to not just be the guy who gives orders," said Dark Start.

"Watch your tone, D.S. It's cause of me you aren't in an NSC vault somewhere in marble form," said Omnirus.

"And you've got a plan to fix yourself the rest of the way, right?" asked Cyber.

"There'll be other parts. There's a few other parts to get here and then we head elsewhere for the last part," said Omnirus, Kala finding herself feeling uneasy at the thought of going offworld where those mercs would never find her.

"And then what?" asked Cyber.

"Then I'm back to normal and we pick the dimension we want to conquer," said Omnirus with a smirk.

"I was expecting more steps to that plan," said Dark Start.

"Do we care? An entire Earth as our plaything. One without an annoying little Hawaiian girl trying to reform us?" said Omnirus.

"Can we wreck a big city?" asked Leroy.

"You can wreck a continent. There'll be enough cities for everyone," said Omnirus.

Kala asked, "What about Silvia?"

"Eh, if we get lucky, we'll spring her," said Omnirus, "It's not like she's a real experiment anymore."

Cyber said with an evil grin, "She will be. I added a little extra to the stuff in that drone."

"You're craftier than I would have thought," said Omnirus, sounding impressed.

"I'm as smart as they come," sneered Cyber smugly.

Kala asked, "And what's our plan when Matt comes to kill us all in revenge?"

"Doesn't he have a 700 series stuffed inside of him too?" asked Omnirus.

"No, just a standard EXP virus, if it's still in there in there anymore," said Kala.

"Well, knowing Matt, he'll probably have his hands full with some local supervillain," said Omnirus.

"He'll probably be busier with the new Virk personality he's developing," said Kala before wincing as she felt she said too much.

"Oh...really?" said Omnirus, smugly.

Kala grimaced, not wanting to say more. "But bringing Silvia back will probably be revenge enough," said Omnirus.

"784 Silvia or Shar-Virk Silvia?" asked Kala.

"Either. Both. Let them fight over who gets to run Chloe's body. What's left of her mind will probably get shredded in the crossfire," said Omnirus.

"Are you sure? Matt could just use it as an excuse to try to kill us. Something he could do," warned Kala.

Dark Start laughed, "You're scared of a human?"

Omnirus glared before reaching over and pinching Dark Start's shoulder. She froze in mid-laugh before falling over paralyzed. "I might be stuck in this...cumbersome form, but that doesn't mean I don't still have my brain," said Omnirus.

Cyber paused. "Wait...why _are_ you scared of his guy? He has a human name. We could snap him like a twig."

"You know nothing about him," said Omnirus, "Otherwise, you'd know how much folly you just spoke."

"Enlighten me," said Cyber.

Omnirus said, "Kala?"

Kala said calmly, "He was human when we first met. He's had his DNA put through the blender so many times now though. What I do know is that some tech augmented his DNA with draconic. He'll soak up your plasma blasters like they're nothing long enough to rip your cybernetics out."

"Which is why it's so important for me to repair my Omnitrix," said Omnirus, "Because when we do fight, I want to be above his level."

"Didn't he beat you before your toy broke?" said Kala sweetly.

"For all the misfortune in his life, Lynch has uncannily good luck when it comes to avoiding defeat," said Omnirus in an annoyed voice.

"He beat you good, before he got those powers," laughed Kala.

"You know you're surplus to requirements, right?" asked Omnirus in an annoyed tone.

"Really? Kill me?" said Kala, adding, "Yeah...make Matthew even angrier."

Omnirus glared. "I don't need to kill you. Just send you someplace where you won't be able to make your way back."

"Same result...or, I could help you..." said Kala.

"With what? Your very specific healing powers for a virus that's no longer even being used?" asked Omnirus dismissively.

"No, my plasma powers, advanced combat skills...and the fact that sissy programming is gone," said Kala.

Omnirus's mouth fell open. "I...I'm sorry? So...if I told you to blow Matt's head off..." she said a little dumbstruck.

"She couldn't because Matt is plasma-proof," said Cyber.

"I can get close though. Very close. And I know the ingredients for the dragonbane rounds he helped design to use if he ever went full Virk," said Kala.

"This sounds too good to be true," said Omnirus suspiciously.

Dark Start said, "It's true. She was reset as a medic experiment after the tin can there almost maimed her in a test fight."

"You're recovering fast," observed Omnirus.

"It takes more than that to keep me do-" Dark Start began before Kala did the same pinch on her.

Cyber laughed loudly at that. "He doesn't have a weakness for laughter, does he?" asked Omnirus.

"No, he just likes laughing," said Kala, "As for your question, I'm annoyed my newer programming...fell for him. I'll happily blast him...or better. I know just the thing for him."

* * *

This chapter was a little late. I had a very busy day yesterday. It's also a bit different as it focuses on the second main villain of this fic, Omnirus. Well, mostly on the experiments who work for Omnirus. The new ones featured here are from the Stitch! anime. Cyber is a direct copy of the one that appeared there. Dark Start is based off of Dark End, but not as ridiculously over-powered. Zira/Kira is an original experiment. Also, General Talbot is from the comics, basically a stand-in for Ross after he became the Red Hulk.

Anyways, the next chapter should be up on Wednesday, hopefully without complications. Keep an eye out for it and please review.


	5. Sleeper Hit

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 5: Sleeper Hit**

_Chloe walked through her mindscape, that of a large library. It was a peaceful place to go when life got her down. At the moment, she was following several torn-up books That was particularly upsetting to her for two reasons. One, she didn't like people desecrating books. And two, those books represented parts of her mind._

_She paused, hearing giggling around a corner before turning the corner to see a small mauve experiment holding one of her books. "Put that down, you bookworm," said Chloe, referring more to the destructive insect than a book lover._

_The experiment turned to grin at her before saying in her voice, "But it's mine."_

_"I don't think so. You're a pale imitation of me at best," said Chloe._

_"Oh really? You sure you're not the imitation?" sneered the experiment, Chloe noticing she was shrinking._

_"If I'm gonna be facing other people in my head, can I at least meet the one that's a reflection of me?" asked Chloe._

_"Not really. We're gonna be very close," said the experiment, now as big as her before jumping at her..._

* * *

And Chloe screaming and almost falling out of bed, Zira sitting on her chest with a happy grin. "Come on. We get to explore," she said happily.

"Whoop-de-doo," said Chloe flatly.

"Oh, don't be grouchy, sis. It'll be fun," said Zira.

Chloe rolled her eyes. For spending 30 years in a ventilation system, Zira acted too much like a kid. There was also the problem that she was barely child-sized now. She wasn't unaware of the irony. As General Silvia, she had condemned a lot of people to being like this, even Lilo. But at least as General Silvia, she was a proper height.

She felt a poke, looking down at Zira, who was a head shorter. "I heard one of the humans talking. They got cake. Maaybe it's...that cake?" she said, Chloe feeing a twitch.

Chloe felt her mouth starting to water before fighting the impulse. "It could just be chocolate cake," said Chloe.

"No, I heard the corp thieves telling them not to put it out. Said it was coconut cake. I've only heard stories of it," said Zira happily.

Chloe twitched. "Let's go and see," said Chloe.

* * *

Matt meanwhile was sitting, a transparent door between him and...well, him. "So...Falcore..." he said calmly.

"What do you want?" asked Falcore.

"Tell me where Megan is and I give you my word, I'll find you a cure," said Matt calmly.

"There is no cure," said Falcore.

"Course there is. Did she tell you that?" said Matt.

"She destroyed my memories, she used dark magic and science. You can't undo that," said Falcore.

Matt sighed. "You seem...cooperative. I've read the files. This place has some sort of breakout once a week," he said.

"Don't blame me for that," said Falcore.

"It's not your fault..." said Matt.

Falcore glared. "Are you sure of that?"

"The point is that you don't take the chance to escape," said Matt.

"She lied. She said she would...I don't know. I just know she lied," said Falcore, adding, "Closer to her...I didn't care..."

"I'm sorry, what?" asked Matt.

"I...urgh...why are you here?" said Falcore.

Matt said, "Megan, where is she?"

"Who?" asked Falcore.

"Lady NegaMorph," said Matt.

"Can't tell," said Falcore.

"Don't play with me," warned Matt.

Falcore snapped, "I literally can't tell."

"You can't or you won't?" snapped Matt.

"I cannot. The mistress made sure I can't," snapped Falcore.

"How?" demanded Matt.

"She said it was...a geese?" said Falcore.

"That can't be right," said Matt. Matt paused. "Ooooh...oh, a geas," he said, before he heard a clunk above his head, the guards looking up too. "Ok, who's crawling around in the vents?" asked Matt.

There was another clunk, Matt standing up before the vent gave way and something green landed on him.

* * *

"For the last time, I wasn't involved," said Matt.

"It was my fault..." said Chloe, who was sitting on Matt's shoulder.

Fury glared, "You went into a restricted area."

"We took a wrong turn," said Chloe.

"I told you to turn right," said Zira.

"Maybe you need a little stay in the detention center to see why it's a bad thing to be in there," said Fury.

Chloe and Zira growled at that, Matt saying desperately, "Maybe just house arrest? Experiments really hate being locked up."

"Sounds too lenient," said Fury.

Matt turned to glare. "They play by those rules or back in the pods," he said.

"Matt, I shouldn't even be like this," growled Chloe.

"Sis, you went along with this." said Matt.

Zira added, "Step sis, she's an experiment like me."

"No, she's supposed to be human," said Matt. Zira just laughed, Matt glaring before saying in tantalog, "She was infected by one of your company's bio weapons. I got a taste too once or do all humans speak fluent trog?" Zira's laugh faded at that.

"I'm sure there's a lot you need to be telling her," said Fury, "And as long as it's in one spot, I don't care what it is."

"If they go out of line, I'll...it'll be dealt with in-house," said Matt, walking to the door, Zira blinking before numbly following.

* * *

"You were...wait...did what Matt say...was it true?" said Zira, the two following Matt.

"We have been trying to tell you," said Chloe.

"That's horrible..." said Zira, sniffing sadly.

"It's not that bad," said Chloe, "I've been lots of different things."

"It explains why 783 isn't with you. You...I mean 784 and 783 were inseparable..." said Zira.

"Who?" asked Chloe.

"He was...well, Silvia's brother and bodyguard. She did the planning and he did...I think father called it 'the leg work'," said Zira.

Matt gave a small sigh of relief. "I thought she was going to say 'bushi-bu'," he muttered.

"No, Silvia had a thing for experiment 799...Onimus or something," said Zira, Chloe and Matt getting blank expressions best translated as 'I need to find lots of alcohol'

"Uh, why were you two in the vents, anyways?" asked Matt.

"We were looking for the coconut cake," said Zira happily.

"You could have walked to the cafeteria like a normal person," said Matt.

"But we're not usually allowed," said Zira.

Matt said, "As long as you don't hulk out when you eat it. We're fine."

"It's not like we're giving her coffee," said Chloe.

"No, that's worse. You forgot what happened last time?" snapped Matt, Chloe racking her brains for the memory but with nothing. "Look, just stay out of trouble," said Matt, "We're wearing our welcome thin enough as it is."

"Fine, I'll make sure Zira keeps out of trouble. How's Chris? Is he ok?" asked Chloe, Matt pausing. Chris had been spending alot of time at the coffee shop base...

"He's...been adjusting," said Matt.

"Right, not so eager about dating a plush toy, I bet," said Chloe dourly.

Matt sighed, "Chloe, I'm sure the cure on the Bladestorm'll work. We still got dozens of doses..."

Chloe said icily, "The one that, even if we called now, would take years to get here?"

"Well...Kala's designed to cure EXP. As soon as we snap her back to her senses..." started Matt.

Chloe glared. "She's gone. This isn't brainwashing. Someone hit the reset on her," she snapped.

"I refuse to believe that!" snapped Matt, "Years of a relationship can't be erased at the flick of a switch!"

"For us, yes. But Zira, all of these, they're products. That's why I kept telling you to not get involved," said Chloe, deciding for tough love, only for Matt to hiss "Don't you mean like you at the moment?" before he walked off, Chloe's ears flat

"Guys, guys, let's all calm down and have something to eat," said Zira.

Chloe watched as Matt walked off. "I've lost my appetite," she said gloomily.

* * *

Meanwhile, Omnirus was trying to work on installing the Galvan core into her Omnitrix. Which wasn't easy considering the Omnitrix was located on her belt buckle.

"Ok...allllmost...alllllmoooost…" she said, slowly taking the broken core out before someone yelled "WATCHA DOING!" causing her to scream, the broken core dropping and exploding.

"You nearly blew us to Hoboken!" snapped Omnirus.

"Oh come on, take a joke," laughed Kala, her and Dark Start laughing their heads off.

"Yeah, laugh it up, fuzzball," said Omnirus in an annoyed tone before inserting the new core in, "I'm getting the last laugh."

"New core accepted...searching...searching...backup fires located," said the Omnitrix.

"Reset default form," commanded Omnirus.

"Scanning...multiple options found...displaying..." said the Omnitrix, two images appearing, that of her...current situation and the other being of a brownish red experiment with green eyes.

"Well, that's a no-brainer," said Omnirus, reaching forward.

"Ah, we should really have a girl's night out," said Dark Start. She reached forward and poked the female form.

"Please confirm," said the Omnitrix.

Omnirus panicked. "Don't touch that!" snapped Omnirus.

She prodded the experiment form picture twice at that. "New default accepted...applying in 3...2...1..." said the Omnitrix.

Omnirus was covered in green light before shrinking down. As the light faded, he was in his old experiment form again, the one he gained after breaking out of Ben's Omnitrix. He was noticeably taller than the others, looking more like a bear than a dog or rabbit, which was accentuated by the Gourmand ears he had. The Tetramand and Galvan features were also present in the form of his extra arms and eyes respectively.

"Overcompensating?" said Dark Start.

Kala said, "Quit showing off and turn off the extras. Nobody's impressed."

"I wanted to make sure this form still worked," said Omnirus, tapping his Omnitrix before shrinking down again. This time, he looked more like a brown version of Stitch with green eyes and an Omnitrix on his wrist.

Dark Start nodded, "Much more like it...and we can still go out. Kala needs something to loosen her up anyway. She's still got some leftover of that stupid 2.0."

"Let's go vandalize all those jumbotrons with the big loudmouth on them," suggested Leroy.

"You know...it's not the same. I have a date, what about sis?" said Kala, walking over to Omnirus, before whispering in his ear.

"You really want to use what's left on that?" asked Omnirus dubiously.

"Yeah, he'll be on thin ice at the moment. Going on a little rampage'll seal the deal," said Kala, before whispering, "I'll be very grateful."

"Ah, what the heck. It'll be a good laugh if nothing else," said Omnirus.

Kala smirked before kissing him on the cheek. "I told you I'd be grateful," she said, before running off to get Cyber's help.

* * *

Chloe and Zira eventually did hit the kitchen. Chloe was mostly there to make sure Zira calmed down...in this case, Zira having turned the kitchen into a greenhouse. It was in this state that Spider-Man found them.

"Did I take a wrong turn or are we have extra salad for dinner?" asked Spider-Man.

Chloe jumped onto a tabletop. "That's just Zira. Coffee rush. She'll be fine," she said.

"So...I heard you and your brother had a fight," said Spider-Man.

"You and every other person on the Triskelion probably. It's my fault. I poured salt on a wound," said Chloe gloomily.

"Me and my team bicker all the time," said Spider-Man.

"Did you ever bring lovers into it?" asked Chloe.

"I...don't know how to answer that. Not a lot of dating going on around here," said Spider-Man.

"Seriously?" asked Chloe dryly, "You're telling me Cloak and Dagger are the only couple here?"

"I wouldn't call them a couple," said Spider-Man.

"Right, and I'm a frog princess," said Chloe sarcastically.

Spider-Man paused as a plant with a fang-filled mouth 'peered' at them, Zira sitting on its top with a twitching grin before it went into the vent. "It'll be fine. She only had one cup," said Chloe.

"So what started the fight?" asked Spider-Man.

"I told him that...well, Zira, Kala, they were all made in a lab. It made sense that there'd be a reset somewhere. That's why I kept trying to keep them as friends," said Chloe.

"I don't know much about creating new life from scratch, but I can tell you what I told Scarlet Spider: you're a lot more than just where you came from. He definitely grew beyond what he was designed for and I don't think it'll be any different for you guys," said Spider-Man.

"I know. Matt took it badly. It's not his fault that Kala and I were lab-m...I mean Kala," said Chloe, shaking her head, glaring as she heard a laugh in her head...Silvia 'spring cleaning' again.

"I think Matt's been worrying about you," said Spider-Man.

"I'm fine..." said Chloe, wincing again.

"Maybe you ought to get your-" started Spider-Man before an orchid-like flower sprouted up in front of Chloe. She stared at it before it released a cloud of pollen into her face. She sniffed twice before falling over.

Zira landed. "Yousaidsheneededarestsotherewegoanymorecoffee?" Zira said at high speed, her eye twitching.

"No more caffeine for you," said Spider-Man.

Zira's smile fell. "Aw...whataboutcake?" she said, a vine ripping a fridge open to show several sweets, Zira making the plant throw her into the fridge.

* * *

It took longer than they thought to get Zira out of the fridge, namely because Zira wouldn't leave until Spider-Man had her completely webbed up.

"Yeah...coffee, sugar and experiments..." said Chloe, her voice trailing off. "Hyperdrive fuel and matches," she finished by comparison.

"Lesson learned," said Spider-Man.

"I'd like to teach Matt a lesson," growled Chloe, "He has no idea what I'm going through."

"Chloe...you ok?" said Spider-Man with concern.

Chloe's outburst caught him off guard before she snapped, "Everything goes right for him...and I'm the one who ends up being brainwashed." before punching a wall, leaving a sizable convex dent.

"I don't think Matt would agree with that," said Spider-Man.

"And you wouldn't think your own luck is great either," said Chloe.

"Well, I do get dumped on a lot," said Spider-Man.

"And every time you rise to the occasion. Same for Matt. Me, I end up thinking I'm a different person every other month," said Chloe. Chloe snarled before breaking into a grin. "It's be way too easy to give him a taste of my medicine," she cackled before pausing.

"Maybe a stop at SHIELD's shrink would do you some good," said Spider-Man.

"I do _not_ need a shrink." snarled Chloe.

"That's exactly what someone who needs a shrink would say," said Spider-Man.

Chloe glared at that, "I am _not_ going to a shrink..."

* * *

"So...Miss...Lynch, is it? How long have you thought you were human?" said the shrink.

"I was human. I was born human. I've just been stuffed into a two-foot teddy," said Chloe gruffly, not feeling very comfortable in her webbing.

"I had the doctors scan you. There is no sign you were ever human," said the shrink, looking at his computer.

Chloe glared, "You'd be surprised. Now just mark me as sane so I can go put itching powder in Spider-Man's mask in revenge for this indignity."

"You seem to have a lot of aggression. What do you think is the seat for that?" asked the shrink.

"My idiot brother activated a piece of ancient tech when we were barely teens and we've been stuck going from adventure to adventure since..." said Chloe dully.

"Interesting. So, would you say that your need to return home has been compelling you for a long time?" asked the shrink.

"We can't. The dimension's trapped behind an energy field that won't let anything through," said Chloe.

"An interesting metaphor for-" started the shrink.

"I'm not talking metaphors," said Chloe, "We literally can't go back. The best we can hope for is duplicates of us to be sent back in our place, so our family won't think we've disappeared forever."

"Hmm...and how did you become child-sized?" said the shrink

Chloe twitched. "I'm not usually this size," she said angrily, struggling.

"You believe you are a sizeshifter like your...cousin, was it?" asked the shrink.

"No...I...I didn't mean to call her that. I'm human, just a little confused. Stupid experiment virus," Chloe snarled, pulling again.

"So you feel the need to compensate for your lack of height," said the shrink.

"Wouldn't you? Yesterday I had a boyfriend," snapped Chloe.

"Ah, that's where you're feeling most inadequate," said the shrink.

"I think you're putting words in my mouth," said Chloe.

"No...you're putting words in your mouth," said the shrink, Chloe snapping.

* * *

"...and that's when I superglued his trash can over his head and locked him in his office toilet," said Chloe, sitting opposite Zira.

"You lasted longer than I thought," said Zira.

"You mean the webbing lasted longer than you thought," said Chloe.

"No, you did. You got rigid self-control. I woulda snapped after that long," said Zira, before saying, "I don't think you should prank your brother though."

"Just cutting his ego down a little," said Chloe, "Nothing permanent."

"It's not a good idea. He's still sore over your comment," said Zira.

"He has reason to be," said Chloe.

"Then why do you keep pushing him further?" asked Zira.

"I...he deserves it," snarled Chloe, Zira taking a step back.

"No, he doesn't, and you don't really think he does either," said Zira.

"Yes, I do. I must otherwise I'd not want to," snapped Chloe.

Zira snapped, "That's just our temper. We all have it."

"You don't have a problem with yours," said Chloe.

"Sure, I do," said Zira, "She just has a persona of her own."

Chloe paused. "Ok...I'll go apologize to him..." she said with reluctance.

Zira smiled. "Great, Kira said she'd knock your heads together if you didn't," she said happily, Chloe going wide-eyed and taking a step back. "She's also demanding pie," said Zira, "I'm not sure why."

"Trust me, alternate personalities rarely make sense," muttered Chloe, walking out and jumping back as several troopers went by, leading a prisoner. "Hmm...overkill. Who's this guy supposed to be?" asked Chloe.

The prisoner glared at her and said, "I am Scorpio, leader of Zodiac. You should know better, little rabbit."

"Rabbit...better then trog, I suppose," muttered Chloe, taking some deep breaths to stop herself biting this guy's ankle.

Scorpio scoffed and said, "I thought Fury's SHIELD was little more than a house of cards. Now he's turning it into a house of freaks."

Chloe snarled at that, two dark energy daggers appearing in her paws. "He's not worth it," said Zira, "This is just some second-rate bad guy." Scorpio smirked at that, Chloe glaring before following Zira.

* * *

Matt meanwhile was in the quarters, checking a picture of him and Kala. Despite what Chloe said, he knew he and Kala still had a future together. He had literally seen that future.

"She's wrong. I don't care what she says, little trog," he muttered, before yelping as a rip portal opened and a delivery drone popped through, the NSC post being one of the few corps with rip engine licenses.

"You Lynch?" the drone said

"That depends, do you have a bomb for me?" asked Matt.

"Not my business, bub. I'm just programmed to deliver the parcel. It's not ticking if that helps," said the drone, taking a small parcel out its storage buffer and opening a holoview. "Fingerprint at the bottom," it said.

Matt's instincts should have told him to be suspicious. The package could have been anything from anyone. It could either be a psychic parasite sent by Taleth or love potion-laced chocolates from Keenai. He wasn't sure which would be worse.

Then again, the NSC postal service was known to get...upset if someone refused to take a parcel. "Fine..." he muttered, pressing his thumb to the hard light holo, the drone dropping the parcel on his foot and going back through the tear. "Who would send this to me and how would they know I would be here?" muttered Matt to himself.

The drone peered back through and said, "We're the postal service. We know where you are all the time." before closing the portal, Matt staring numbly in dull terror.

"Ok, I suppose I should open it now and disarm it rather than wait for it to go off later," said Matt. He shrugged before putting it on the bed and using his deactivated ion blade to gently open the box from a distance. When it didn't immediately explode, Matt ventured a little closer. He peered in to see a small nozzle, a red light coming on. "Oh crap," muttered Matt, before it sprayed him.

* * *

"I still can't believe he fell for the old Trojan package trick!" laughed Omnirus, watching Matt writhe through the package's camera.

Kala nodded, smiling but not laughing like the others...for some reason she felt bad. She assured herself that Matt would feel a lot better and look a lot handsomer this way.

"Ok...now to put him out of our fur," said Omnirus evilly, before tossing something to Cyber. "Call this comm and tell them there's been a Class 9," he said.

"What are you doing?" asked Kala.

"We all know he'll find some way out of this. So before that wears off, I'm making sure the NSC lock him in a nice deep hole," sneered Omnirus.

"Seriously? That seems like overkill," said Kala.

"Trust me, for this guy, this would be underkill," said Omnirus.

"But why not send the same thing you did to Chloe?" said Kala.

Omnirus glared, "You getting cold paws?"

"It was your idea, wasn't it?" asked Dark Start.

"Yeah, just to get him on our side. Not throw him in the experiment level of Kryos," said Kala.

"He's more trouble than he's worth," said Omnirus.

Kala sighed at that before saying, "You got a point."

"So who are the NSC gonna send?" asked Leroy.

* * *

"Mancer, you're up," called the contract assigner.

"About time, mates," said Mancer, "What slimeball are ya sending after this time?"

"You're in a bioweapon cleanup. Nasty little bioweapon. Can infect and convert multiple hosts. Your job's contain, not destroy. You'll be going in with a corps team from Z.P.S.," said the contractor.

"Your blokes will only slow me down," said Mancer.

"After the last contract, you'll go in with them. You're going to Earth and they're not as hardy as you are used to," said the contractor calmly.

"Earth? Terrible name for a planet. They might as well call it Dirt. Planet Dirt," said Mancer.

"You want the job or not?" said the contractor icily.

"Just show me what I'm baggin'," said Mancer.

The contractor displayed a hologram of a general form experiment. "Don't let it fool you. These things come in alot of nasty flavors. The standard one can bench press a Kree battletank."

"Cute little nippers," said Mancer, "I suppose they turn into something nasty."

A hologram appeared of a colony, a powered-armored marine and its team firing heavy weaponry at something, before a grey furred experiment landed on the power armored trooper, pulling its head off before spitting acid at another and biting a third, all while soaking up the shots like it was nothing. "Yeah...they don't need to. They're already nasty."

"Pint-sized super-soldiers," said Mancer, "What will they think of next?"

"God help us if they do. Your orders are to capture it if you can. Terminate if you can't. Sonics work well so try that," said the contractor.

"Good thing that's my specialty," said Mancer.

"Good luck...and don't kill anyone that's not on the list this time or the next contract's on you," said the contractor icily.

* * *

It took a bit of prodding to get Chloe to see Matt and try to patch things up. "I'm doing this under protest," grumbled Chloe as she was being carried by Spider-Man.

"It'll help. O'hana shouldn't fight," said Zira, who was crawling along the wall.

"What's this 'o'hana' you guys keep talking about?" asked Spider-Man.

"It's the Hawaiian word for 'family'," said Chloe.

"Yeah, the first of us learnt it long ago," said Zira.

"Jookiban experiments take family very seriously," said Chloe, "You should have seen how much grief they gave this one girl because she inadvertently caused her stepbrother to break up with his perfect match and never owned up for it because she thought they were both annoying."

"Family's important," confirmed Zira.

"I agree, which is why you shouldn't argue with-" started Spider-Man before his and the girls' enhanced hearing picked up laughter. Not 'evil, maniacal laughter', but 'gut-busting, rib-cracking laughter'.

"You hear that?" said Chloe before saying with worry, "Oh, God, my brother snapped." before running towards the sound.

"I don't think so," said Spider-Man, hurrying after her, "I know that laugh too well."

Zira followed, sliding to a halt next to Chloe to see some person in a blue and gold uniform, wearing a black and red helmet...and "783?" she said in surprise, seeing the black furred experiment.

The experiment gave her an annoyed look and said with Matt's voice, "Wrong."

Zira stared before saying, "Oh dear." Chloe staring, before she began to laugh as well.

"I hope you laugh yourself to death," said Matt with annoyance.

Spider-Man just stared Chloe managing "That's...what E.X.P...does..."

Matt glared, "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."

"Oh man, I am so posting this," said Nova, working with his phone.

Matt glared, jumping up and grabbing the phone before throwing it in his mouth. Uh-uh," he said through a full mouth before chewing and swallowing.

"Dude!" snapped Nova, "That was my phone!"

"Tough cheese. I am not being on YouTube's greatest hits," snarled Matt.

"Would someone explain how this happened?" asked Spider-Man.

"A little present from Kala," said Matt darkly.

"At least you'll be a cute couple now," said Zira.

"I'm not staying like this," snapped Matt.

"Why not?" asked Zira.

"Well, for starters, none of my clothes fit, I can't drive anything, and no one's going to take someone seriously when they're adorable."

"Preaching to the choir," said Chloe dryly.

Matt twitched. "Yeah, I only presumed it was from Kala," he said, glaring at her.

"How did she do that?" asked Spider-Man.

Matt paused though he continued to glare. "Urgh...I just hope there's enough cure," he said darkly.

"I was looking for a specific answer," said Spider-Man, "Like did she hit you with a slow-acting dart or something?"

"She just sent it through the mail," said Matt.

"I'd have used the dart," said Chloe.

"If it was through the mail, wouldn't there be a return address?" asked Spider-Man.

Matt paused, before going over to the box, before he hung his head. "Kala..." he muttered.

"So I guess tracing it back to her won't be that easy," said Spider-Man.

"It never is," said Chloe.

"I'm gonna kill that Cyber," muttered Matt darkly.

"So you're both living teddy bears now, big deal," said Nova, "At least no one can get you here."

"Hey, that was uncalled for," scolded Zira.

Chloe went wide-eyed. "Apologize," she said desperately to Nova.

"What, the living teddy bear stuff? At least you don't look like ra... You could look worse," said Nova.

"We're experiments...not teddys," said Zira, her voice slightly deeper.

"Well, maybe whoever made you shouldn't have designed you to look like stuffed animals," said Nova.

Zira twitched at that, before hulking out. "Didn't read the new members memo again?" asked Spider-Man.

"I said we're not teddys!" roared Kira in Nova's face.

"Duly noted," squeaked Nova.

Kira immediately tuned back into Zira who said sweetly, "Thank you."

"I wouldn't try to push if I were you," Chloe told Nova in a teasing voice. But inside, she felt a small surge of envy that Zira was able to grow big, buff, and beautiful just by getting a little ticked while Chloe was stuck stewing under a yard.

Matt waved a paw in front of her at that. "Earth to sis...anyone home?" he said.

"Well, at least you won't be lording it over me now," said Chloe.

"I'm still an inch taller than you," said Matt.

"Are not!" snapped Chloe.

"Am too," said Matt smugly

Chloe snapped "Am not!"

The conversation went on for some time along those lines.

* * *

6 hours later...

"ARE NOT!" yelled Chloe.

"You guys hungry yet?" asked Spider-Man.

The two experiments turned, their stomachs supplying a positive confirmation. "Thanks, man," said Matt, jumping onto the table before seeing the time. "Almost midnight? Damn."

"Anything we missed?" asked Chloe.

"I'll fill you in on the war between the Mole People and the Squirrels later," said Spider-Man.

Matt blinked. "Oookay...ooh, ham," he said, tearing the wrapper off a sandwich.

Chloe sniffed her sandwich. "Bologna's a bit fattening, isn't it?" she asked.

"At least you don't have to watch your figure now," said Matt.

Chloe shrugged before tossing the sandwich in. "Mmm...gotta find the shop this came from," she said, before the lights flickered.

"Lights out time?" asked Matt.

"I don't think so..." said Spider-Man. He checked his comm and asked, "Hey, is anyone else still up?" There was just silence, before the intruder alarm began to ring. "Yeah, that should have been expected," said Spider-Man.

Matt peered out before saying, "So where are the security?"

"That is a good question," said Spider-Man, "It's too quiet for an invasion."

Zira walked round a corner at that, yawning. "What's with the noise? How are you guys sleeping through it?"

"There are people still sleeping?" asked Matt, sounding less incredulous than worried.

"Yeah...I tried to wake them but nothing worked," said Zira.

"This can only mean one thing," said Matt.

Chloe said "Trouble..." she said, footsteps heard behind them.

"Spider-sense is confirming that," said Spider-Man.

Three troopers in black carapace armor came around the corner at that, holding bulky rifles, the helmet optics glowing green. "Who are these guys? HYDRA?" asked Spider-Man.

"NSC! SCATTER!" yelled Matt, the troopers soundlessly raising their rifles before opening fire with a deafening 'buddabuddabudda'. Heavy rounds tearing up the corridor,

The group quickly leapt out of harm's way. "Wait, I'm confused. You said you were from NSC, whatever that stands for," said Spider-Man.

"I did mention we were having a civil war, right?" asked Matt.

"Targets on the move..." said one of the troopers, the group adjusting their aim to fire.

Chloe snapped, "Just run or fight."

Zira pounded a fist into the ground, causing vines to grow up and ensnare the troopers before the group ran. "How is it she's able to make plants grow in metal?" asked Spider-Man.

"I use the ground underneath the tower...plus the hydroponic gardens under this floor," said Zira, before screaming as a round caught her shoulder.

"Zira!" cried Chloe with concern.

"I'm ok. That shouldn't have happened. We're meant to be bulletproof," said Zira in shock.

Spider-Man pulled the rifle out of the shooter's hand with some webbing. "This isn't your average six-shooter," said Spider-Man, examining the gun, "Though ballistics aren't really my specialty.

"It's designed for us," said Chloe weakly, looking at the casing on the floor that looked more at home in a tank cannon.

"And it's no coincidence they showed up now just after I got furried," said Matt.

"Kala must have ratted you out," snapped Chloe, the group running for it.

"I'm blaming Cyber more," said Matt, "That half-metal trog has more than a few screws loose."

Spider-Man paused, his spider-sense kicking up a storm. Just in time for another three to come round the corner, firing at them. "Can someone explain how nobody's waking up even during this loud invasion?" asked Spider-Man.

"It's gotta be a sleeper deeper, locks you in your conscious state you were in when it activates," called Matt, tearing a piece of metal off the wall and throwing it at the troopers, nailing one.

"Simply put: if you're asleep, you can't wake up. If you're awake, you can't fall asleep," said Chloe before sending electric blasts at the troopers.

"So we're on our own?" said Spider-Man, trying to web one of the troopers up.

"Unless there were any other late-nighters up," said Matt.

* * *

"Bleedin' jokers..." muttered Mancer, watching the NSC team try to capture the experiments. He wasn't surprised that these troopers were failing so bad at bagging the little koalas. But if there was one thing Mancer had learned, it was how to learn from others' mistakes. "Ok...time to bag me some bounties," he muttered, readying his blaster rifle and leaving the room.

* * *

Matt grabbed the rifle from a webbed-up trooper who snapped, "You wait till I get free, you little trog."

"I'm not a trog," said Matt with annoyance.

"Like I care. Command wants you freaks locked up. We wasted enough on cures," snapped the trooper.

Matt said, "And this guy is the sort of people we're fighting."

"Yeah, our civil war is being over more relevant reasons than others," said Chloe.

"We're not gonna let you freaks loose on the populace," snapped the trooper.

"Uh, we're not the infectious type," said Chloe, "Do any of us look like viral clones?"

"I got my orders, freak," snapped the trooper.

"That's the problem with your side: you don't question your orders," said Matt.

"Yeah...but you're missing three of us," sneered the trooper, the group turning to see three troopers aiming.

Before the others could respond, black tentacles reached around the corner and grabbed them. The troopers were knocked out, Agent Venom and Spider-Woman coming into view. "Spidey...who the heck are these guys?" asked Agent Venom.

"Space mercenaries," said Spider-Man.

"Yeah...insultingly bad ones," said Matt.

"Oh, you're so adorable," cooed Spider-Woman as she reached down to pet Matt.

"I bite," said Matt darkly.

"I'm sure he's only saying that," said Spider-Man, reaching down to pet Chloe's head.

She grabbed his wrist and painfully twisted it. "Do and you'll have to redesign your web-shooter to have to work with less fingers," she growled.

Zira walked up and pushed Chloe away. "I think we have more to worry about," she snapped.

"Right, SHIELD Academy is being invaded, everyone else is in an unwaking sleep, and we're the only ones who can stop it," said Spider-Man, "Say how are you two still awake?"

"My symbiote won't let me sleep. Can't you hear it?" said Venom.

"No, not really," said Spider-Man.

Chloe paused, her ears twitching before saying, "A high pitched whine?"

"Yeah, one that gets louder as you start to doze off," said Spider-Woman.

"Well, the good news is that as long as the sleeper-deeper's up, you can't fall asleep now," said Matt.

"The bad news is we could set off a foghorn in the others' ears and they'd never wake," said Chloe.

"So we're the only one who can do anything, unless someone else was still awake at this ungodly hour," said Matt.

"I didn't see Iron Spider in his bed," said Spider-Woman

"He's probably in the lab," said Spider-Man, "Hopefully he didn't nod off halfway through an experiment again."

"Aw...you leavin' so soon, mates?" said a voice, the group turning to see a humanoid alien holding a rifle. He would look human except his skin had a greenish tinge and the scruffy beard he had was made of small barbs. "So, you little fuzzes are the things the corp want?" the man said, checking his rifle.

"Who's the alien Aussie?" asked Agent Venom.

"Name's Haze Mancer, mate. Best bounty hunter in the sector," said the alien, adding, "Now hand over the cuddly toys and I'll leave yer to yer night."

"When have I ever handed anyone over to obvious villains?" asked Spider-Man.

"How should I know? I just met you," said Mancer, "But I ain't a villain. Those koalas yer pallin' with are dangerous criminals."

"Are not," said Matt.

Haze Mancer saying "Not getting into that." leveling his blaster at Matt.

"You know I'm bulletproof, right?" pointed out Matt.

"Against regular bullets, maybe," said Haze, "But I'd be a pretty poor hunter if I didn't pack the right ammo." Matt gulped as Mancer said, "So...you hand over the fuzzballs ad we call it even."

"I've considered your generous offer...and decided to turn you down," said Spider-Man before shooting webbing into Mancer's eyes.

Mancer staggered back, firing his blaster on reflex, the air rippling with an ear-splitting shriek. Agent Venom and Spider-Woman's costumes writhed a bit at the sound, but the group quickly turned and ran.

Haze pulled the webbing off before seeing them vanishing round a corner. "Nice...not as much fun when they give up," he said, walking after them. After all, his team had locked the place down.

* * *

After a bit of running, the experiments and Web Warriors stopped to assess their situation.

"Ok, that guy's not one of ours...but that was effective," grumbled Matt, his head aching.

Zira nodded, "Enhanced hearing has its minuses."

"Our symbiotes sure didn't like that blast," said Spider-Woman.

"Of course not," said Chloe, "Sound is a symbiote's greatest weakness."

"There's a whole locker at the base full of sonic weapons..." said Matt for confirmation, shaking his head, adding, "We can assume he's smart. We need a good plan..."

Those words causing Chloe to twitch. "First off, we need to assess whether or not Iron Spider is still awake," said Chloe, "Then we'll need to find where the sleeper-deeper beacon is and deactivate it." Chloe continued as everyone stared. "Ok, the beacon would need to be high to maximize coverage, somewhere their ship could land...the roof, the helipad? It'll have high end security. Cho can break that. Mancer'll be harder, clearly a professional. He might try to get backup," she said, her tone changing to that of Silvia's.

"That makes a lot of sense, so why does it seem creepy?" asked Spider-Man.

A pair of spines came out of Chloe's back at that, as she continued, "It's also most likely they have shut down access to the outside. Yes, yes...that's what I'd have done."

"Does she normally have them?" asked Spider-Man.

"She barely uses her experiment form, but I think that's not a good indication," said Matt.

'Chloe' looked around. "Well? You thinking of a better plan?" she said, before spotting Matt, "Krak? When were you activated?"

"Crack? Did you just call me 'Crack'?" asked Matt.

"K-R-A-K. You wouldn't have been called something that ridiculous," said 'Chloe'.

"Well, 'Krak' isn't much better! I mean, come on! That's the kind of name a dumb, thuggish muscle-for-hire would have!" snapped Matt.

"Krak...783...are you ok?" said 'Chloe' with concern.

"He's fine. He's just been out of it for a while," said Zira.

"Urgh...Zero...great," muttered 'Chloe' before noticing the others. "Oh...two klyntar hosts and a human..." she said scathingly.

"What's a klyntar?" asked Agent Venom.

"Urgh...ok, you heard my plan. It's the best one you have against an NSC Kill-Team," Silvia said loftily.

"Yeah, because you're the best strategist in New York," said Agent Venom dryly.

"I am," said Silvia haughtily.

Zira said, "She is. She was designed that way. Think she was meant to go to UN space command."

"You do know no plan ever survives the first part of battle," said Spider-Man.

"Mine tend to. Kill teams are very predictable if you know their thinking. They're no doubt here for me, Zero and Krak...and they'll avoid lethal force against you lot," said Silvia smugly.

"We still don't know what all this Mancer guy is capable of," said Spider-Woman.

"Yes...he's a bit of a wildcard..." muttered Silvia to herself.

"He has weapons that will work against both you experiments and the symbiotes," said Spider-Man.

"But you don't have any specific weaknesses, do you?" asked Silvia.

Matt slapped the back of her head before saying, "Sis, you know its rude to ask people their weaknesses."

"Right, my bad," said Silvia, "But what I mean is that Spider-Man has nothing that Mancer can readily exploit."

"There's Cho too," said Agent Venom.

"We still need to see if he's still awake," said Spider-Man.

"Extra hand could help...on one condition..." said Silvia.

"Are you in much of a position to be imposing conditions?" asked Spider-Woman.

"Well, it amazing how much trouble one experiment can cause. I want Chloe gone, out of my hea-" she began, before gagging as Matt chopped her throat.

"First off, it's not your head. It's Chloe's head. You're just a...a leftover genetic memory of whatever experiment Chloe's original EXP virus was modeled off of. You're not even the Silvia that appears when Chloe has gone Shar-Virk. You're a pale shadow, an imitation at best," snapped Matt, "Secondly, well, having Chloe removed for your convenience just seems absurd now, doesn't it?"

Silvla glared, before twitching. "Lynch...why do you torture me?" she snarled.

"It's what I do best. Not so tough and invincible without flunkies to back you up, are you?" sneered Matt.

"One day Lyn-mmmph" began Silvia before vines cocooned her.

"Her plan's good. She'll back stab us," said Matt.

Zira nodded, "She's a bad experiment."

"Let's add another layer to that," said Spider-Man before webbing up Silvia.

"Now let's find Cho before some of my ex-fellow officers find him," said Matt.

* * *

Cho, in his armor, was trying to reconstruct a device recovered from where Lazard's ship had been. It was hard as, just when he'd get close, it would seem to fall apart. "You'd think alien technology would be built to hold together better," muttered Cho. The door behind him was heard opening at that, footsteps heard. "Busy right now," said Cho dismissively before his early-warning system buzzed.

He flew up just before a hail of weapon fire chewed the worktop into tiny bits, Cho turning to see three troopers in black armor with an unidentified insignia on their armor firing, before they began firing up at him. "Don't know who you are, don't need to know," said Cho before sending repulsor blasts at them.

The lead trooper was knocked back, the others taking cover and continuing to fire, trying to hit his boosters, neither side noticing a flower belonging to one of the normal researchers glowing and starting to grow.

Iron Spider shot webbing that coated the front of their blasters. The webbing glowed before the heavy caliber tore through, continuing to fire, before one of them was 'swallowed' by the now giant flower. Iron Spider paused to look at the overgrown plant. "When did that happen?" he asked.

The last trooper took aim before a grey koala thing leapt on its head, making the trooper stagger around before he was webbed up. Iron Spider glanced to see the other Web Warriors minus Kid Arachnid. "You guys mind filling me in on what's going here?" he asked.

"The new guys brought some trouble" said Venom, the grey experiment glaring at him

"Space mercenaries," said Spider-Man, "They have some kinda gizmo that locks everyone in either sleep or wakefulness while it's on."

"So we can't fall asleep?" asked Cho, "Huh, I was wondering why I didn't feel tired. I could really use a device like that. Imagine what all I'll be able to create without having to waste time with sleeping."

"That's not a good idea. There's a guy in the Star Light asylum on Central that is a living reason why using a sleeper deeper like that is a bad idea," said the grey koala in Lazard's voice.

Iron Spider retracted his faceplate and said, "My audio receptors must be glitching. I could have sworn that sounded like Lazard."

"Kala sent me a present," said the koala darkly.

"I see..." said Cho, sounding confused.

"You get used to it," said the Lazard koala icily, before spotting… "Hey...that's the BFG 9000 from my ship armory!" he snapped, going over to the gear Cho had been trying to put together, the wreckage seeming to react to his voice and flowing back together.

"I've been trying to put it back together all night," said Cho with annoyance.

"But you aren't me. This thing can take out a small carrier with the right shot," said Lazard happily, "I guess you don't have Doom here." He lifted the gun, which was almost as big as he was, up.

"Doom? Yeah, we got him," said Venom, "But he's in Latveria."

"No...the video game," said Lazard, before saying, "Is that an outer wall? I think I know how to get us past lockdown."

"You aren't suggesting that-" started Cho.

"This...is what the BFG does. Guess what it stands for," said Lazard, aiming and firing a green pulse that blew a huge hole out into the night outside, a wind felt as the air equalized.

"There was a window!" snapped Iron Spider.

"This was faster," said Lazard, checking the blaster.

"Ok, we just web-sling our way up till we find the lullaby machine and turn it off," said Spider-Man. "Hold up," said Lazard, "It can't be that easy." He looked around, grabbing a beaker before throwing it out, a drone shimmering into view and blasting the beaker before vanishing. "Quarantine drones..." he said.

"Then why didn't they start blasting when the hole opened?" asked Agent Venom.

"Quarantine means nothing gets in or out," said Iron Spider, "They won't do anything unless someone tries to do either of those things."

"I heard they were designing those after the Acheron 12 massacre. V-713 got loose, cloner experiment, overran the planetary defense force in an hour," muttered Lazard, glaring at the drone, which was hovering, Lazard sure it was staring directly at him.

"Too bad Miles is asleep," said Spider-Man, "His camouflage would come in handy here."

"We don't need to become invisible," said Iron Spider, "We can just be invisible to them."

The drone finally lost interest, shimmering out of sight, a shape seemingly made of air passing in front of the lights from the city. "The drones must have an IFF setting to recognize who deployed them," said Iron Spider, "We just need to copy one of the intruder's identity and use it to hack their system."

Lazard looked at the unconscious goons. "That could work. Don't try their wrist computers, they're DNA-locked and booby trapped," he said, walking over, before slapping one of the goons awake and switching to splitter. "Wakey-wakey," he said.

"I thought you said they can't fall asleep," said Spider-Woman.

"There's a difference between being knocked out and asleep," said Lazard.

The trooper glared before spitting. "Go to hell, trog," he said.

Matt glaring. "You know what I've got, right? Did anyone tell you what I can do?" asked Matt. He stuck out his tongue and allowed a long drop of green saliva to nearly touch the trooper's face before sucking it back up. "Maybe you'll start turning before it burns its way to your brain," said Matt before drooling again.

The trooper paled, trying to squirm out the way. "You better give us your ID," said Zira in a singsong tone as the drop of drool oozed closer to the trooper's face.

"Not a chance. That's treason," snapped the trooper.

"Would you rather save face or keep your face?" asked Zira.

"Ok, ok, wrist comp, release DNA lock! Authorization Alpha-Alpha 541!" yelped the trooper.

The wrist comp beeped before a recorded voice said, "I'm sorry to hear about your retirement."

The trooper looked horrified before he shuddered, electricity flowing over him before his head feel forward, smoking slightly. "Ok...they never did that before..." said Lazard in horror.

"Is he..." asked Spider-Man.

"Gone, yes," said Lazard, "This is why our civil war is going on. The guy who wants to run Nullspace has absolutely no scruples. There isn't anything he won't do to gain the advantage or maintain order. Anyone or anything that can't be used by him is either expendable or an obstacle." Lazard pried the wrist comp out to see it was back at factory settings. "This works though...for what it's worth," he said.

"Was it worth it?" asked Spider-Man grimly.

"McNeil's a psychopath and a traitor...and I'll be sure the judges make him hear every name before they lock him in Kryos Penal," Lazard said, finding some dog tags

"Let's see if we got anything from this," said Iron Spider.

A series of runes and hieroglyphs appeared, the armor saying, "Analyzing...unknown xeno language...attempting to translate."

"Huh, either you're from a farther part of the universe than has ever come to Earth or you really are from another dimension," said Iron Spider.

"Yeah...how many aliens you know that are two feet high?" said Lazard sarcastically.

Zira added, "Only when I'm in my happy place."

"Can we please move on?" asked Spider-Woman, "I do not wake up in a good mood if I don't get enough sleep."

The wristcomp burst into life at that, "All units, this is command. Additional orders: confirming that one Dr. Connors is on site. Bring in ASAP. Additional: terminate the local help once we're done."

"And now they're not gonna be holding back for us," said Lazard.

The com continued, "Be advised, special containment team from Executive Genetics field office is en route for Connors..."

"As if we didn't have enough to deal with," said Spider-Man.

"More then you know. They gotta be nuts. Last time they played with that serum, the NSC had to magma bomb a colony," snapped Lazard, getting uncharacteristically angry.

"It wasn't even Connors who made the serum, it was Doctor Octopus," said Spider-Man.

"As far as they care, Connors is Patient Zero," said Lazard.

"Ok, everyone, we can still beat these guys," said Zira.

"Let's just turn off that sleeper doohickey," said Venom.

"Take your best go at it," snapped Lazard, snatching the wristcomp and checking, "It's on the helipad."

"All I need to know," said Venom as he jumped out the hole in the wall.

Three drones decloaked, keeping track as Venom climbed the building, as their AI temporarily conflicted. This guy was a timeline specific. They couldn't simply fire...before they got new orders from the containment team: all restrictions lifted, before they opened fire.

Venom extended his missile launchers and fired at the drones. The first drone exploded, before the others activated a translucent shield, the missiles exploding harmlessly before they continued to fire.

"Like I really care," said Agent Venom as he started making his way over to the helipad.

A second later, a green blast blew a section out of the wall, a larger drone with what was clearly the same blaster Lazard had used attacked, the gun already recharging. "Ok, now I care," said Agent Venom. But then a pair of repulsor blasts hit the drone as Iron Spider flew overhead. The drone, like the others, exploded, before their shields adapted, another of the heavy drones hovering into view while several followed Iron Spider.

* * *

"You are in breach of a Nullspace Security Coalition quarantine," said the drone over Cho's com, the image being a pair of red eyes in static.

"I don't answer to Nullspace, whatever that is," said Cho.

"You will land and surrender to decontamination and mind wipe," replied the drone, more plasma fire shooting out, before Cho saw a white dropship dropping its cloak, the words 'E.G.I.S' on the side.

"Those guys part of your quarantine? You know you're not supposed let anyone in, right?" asked Cho.

"Executive Genetics Internal Security have clearance," replied the drone AI, before Cho's view shook at one drone scored a lucky hit.

"Corporate-owned private army," said Cho, "I'm starting to think these guys aren't really a government agency."

The dropship was heading for the helipad, where a small staff, a glowing rotating device on the top, was placed, three of the black armored troopers guarding it. "Guys, I've got a visual on the beacon," said Iron Spider.

"I see it too," said Agent Venom as he tried to web-sling towards it. The three troopers turned, the top of their rifles splitting into a small dish. "Uh oh," said Agent Venom before the sonic blasts sent him flying.

The dropship came into land at that as one of the troopers was sent flying by concussion missiles, before the back opened, a single red optic seen. By that point, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman were also outside, jumping across the drones. "Please tell me that's as big as the robots get," said Spider-Man.

There was a boom, Agent Venom seen flying into the water, before a very large mech came into view, the theme seeming to be miniguns.

"You sure these guys are just after Connors and the experiments?" asked Spider-Woman, "Do they think the Hulk is here?"

The mech said, "We got Lynch's DNA logged. Where is he?"

Several ohter armored troopers with blaster rifles filed out, before a helmetless woman got off. "Team...stand down..."

Spider-Man swung down to the helipad and asked, "What is this all about?"

The troopers aimed at that, the woman just smiling. "My boys are so protective...Mr...Parker According to our files, we're here for the experiments in your facility...and all we want is a word with Dr Connors, that is all. I apologize for Mr. Mancer and his team's overzealousness. He was given specific orders to not use live ammo," she said calmly, her eyes the wrong color, a golden color.

"If you really knew them, you'd know they're not a threat," said Spider-Man.

"Oh please, Lynch is a walking disaster zone. He's responsible for the disappearance of two of our research vessels in the uncharted sectors," said the woman.

"People call me a walking disaster zone all the time," said Spider-Man with a shrug.

"He's the real deal: a kill count in the 5 digits. He should have been locked in Kryos years ago. He actually was once," said the woman.

"Apparently wherever you come from is less open to second chances than we are here," said Spider-Man.

"Try 12th chance," said the woman calmly.

"Me, I give as many chances as they need," said Spider-Man, "Besides, you're trying to take Dr. Connors, who hasn't done anything to deserve this level of besieging."

"He'll be returned. We simply want to talk to him," said the woman with a cold smile.

"Sorry, but that's the kind of smile that screams 'don't believe what I'm telling you'," said Spider-Man.

"Oh...and I thought we were going to get along. The board gave me specific orders," said the woman in a tone that reminded Spider-Man of Deadpool when he was gearing up to un-alive someone.

"The 'leave no witnesses' kind of orders?" asked Spider-Man, getting ready to use his tazer webs.

"Not really. I'm not going to kill any of you," said the woman happily, what looked like feathers appearing in her hands, dagger style, seeming to come from empty space.

"Um, good?" said Spider-Man nervously.

"But then again. It's amazing what a human can live through," the woman said, before throwing the feathers, the feathers narrowly missing and burying them deeply into the steel of the Triskelion.

Spider-Man responded by shooting her with his tazer webs. The woman smiled, leaping over the webs, one of her troopers being shocked unconscious. "Oh, that's so cute," she said happily, turning to see Spider-Woman charging her, pulling a device from her belt and activating it, an earsplitting screech heard.

The symbiote writhed under the sonic assault, which Spider-Woman were barely able to hold in. A second later, a concussive pulse blast knocked her back, the woman smirking before Iron Spider landed on her black. "Let's turn off that bad tech," said Iron Spider, shooting small repulsor blasts at her belt.

The woman's form flickered into a grey feathered owl lady. "Hmm...that's annoying," she said before digging her talons into the armor.

"Oh, you're an owl, which would mean you have excellent night vision," said Iron Spider, "Which by extension means you have very sensitive eyes." At that, his arc reactor let out a bright flash. The owl made a show of shielding her eyes. "Ah, didn't take that into account," said Iron Spider.

"Oh...how old _are_ you?" asked the owl, dodging blasts.

"It doesn't matter," said Iron Spider, "I'm still the 7th smartest person on this planet."

"Oh, that's nice. I'm the 2nd deadliest person in the multiverse," said the owl lady sweetly, before slashing at his chest plate. From range it wouldn't have been too much of a worry had three energy slashes not shot at him.

"Now that's an obviously gross exaggeration," said Iron Spider.

"My name is Owlina. I'm a fixer for Executive Genetics. Now stand down or I'll be forced to fix you," said the owl lady, her men, who had been watching readying their weapons. Owlina smirked at Spider-Man. "Oh, just you left. I don't detect any symbiotes or technology. What can you do?" she said, one of her arms segmenting into some sort of blaster.

"Let's start off with this," said Spider-Man before shooting webs at her face.

Owlina smirked, taking the web off. "Hmm...you're almost as annoying as Mr. Lynch's file," she said, before opening fire, purple plasma blasts shooting out, her men and the mech firing as well.

It took most of Spider-Man's jumping, flipping, rolling, and heeding his spider-sense to avoid being shot. He turned to see the sleeper deeper beeping away happily. "You know, I hear owls are supposed to be very wise," said Spider-Man.

"You really think flattery is going to work?" asked Owlina dryly.

"No, I was just going to say that's a myth. In fact, owls are among the dumbest birds on the planet," said Spider-Man.

Owlina's eyes narrowed. "Are you...trying to upset me?" she said, throwing several feathers.

"That's my usual tactic. Not that you'd recognize a good insult, owl-brain," said Spider-Man.

"It won't work. I'm a professional. I'm trained to suppress rage," said Owlina, two of her men being webbed up as they tried to get Spider-Man in a crossfire.

"Oh come on. I've met pigeons less emotional than you," said Spider-Man.

Owlina tensed up at that, before she threw a storm of her feather daggers. "When I get you, I'll be sure you learn that Avianos are not your weak terran birds," she said darkly.

"Yeah, definitely not. Our birds have much better feathers than the ones you're molting," said Spider-Man.

Owlina glared, before sending several more daggers, these ones landing around Spider-Man before a storm of electricity shot up. Owlina ran forward while he was stunned. "No jokes? I don't hear you laughing now," she snapped, looking to her men, "Sweep the building and find Lynch and his compatriots immediately. I'll be sure to educate my new friend here."

"I've got a few things to teach you too," said Spider-Man, "Like anger management."

"I already know how to control my anger," said Owlina.

"Your nighty-night light says differently," said Spider-Man.

Owlina turned her head to see the sleeper deeper sparking before shutting down. "Oh feather-rot," she muttered, before her face got webbed again.

"Yeah, I've got a lot of friends who aren't gonna be happy with you now," said Spider-Man.

Owlina glared. "All teams, abort mission, get back to the roof," she snapped into her com.

Just then, huge tentacles of seaweed rose up out of the harbor. Owlina glared, her eyes seeing Zira riding the big one which formed into a toothed head. "Kids, eat your greens before they eat you," Zira cackled before it lunged at Owlina who sliced it up.

"Uh, why couldn't you have made those before?" asked Spider-Woman.

"You have any idea how far I had to reach to get this much seaweed?" asked Zira.

Owlina was on the defensive before backing into someone, turning to see Power Man. "Well...you've been eating your vitamins," she said cheerfully before she was knocked flying.

Agent Venom managed to crawl back up onto the Triskelion and said, "Save some for me."

Owlina got up, a little unsteadily before smirking. "Please...one extra?" she said.

Then a shot of webbing hit Owlina's face. "I don't know who woke me up, but I do not like being woken up," growled Scarlet Spider, landing beside the others.

Owlina glared, before saying a little uncertainly, "Ok...two's a little harder."

Then the rest of the SHIELD students came charging out the door. Not only that, but the beach rose up as a roaring Sandman.

Owlina looked around, spotting her target smirking before she smiled, putting her hands on her head. "I assume my men are unconscious," she said.

"Unconscious, unable to move, not gonna be able to help you," said Spider-Man.

"Did you account for all of them?" asked Owlina.

* * *

Mancer peered out as several agents ran past, before he walked into the cells, firing a blast in that shorted out the cameras. "Seems my employer's not in any state to pay the bill," he said to himself.

Mancer raised his eyebrows when he saw all the various villains that were locked up here. There was a swirling body of water that occasionally made an angry face as it crashed the sides, an electric bulb that had a humanoid being trying to break out, a huge demonic man that was literally snorting fire, and...some weird green guy with an oversized helmet covering his eyes.

"Yeah...you're trouble..." he said, walking onwards before someone banged on their door, getting his attention.

He paused at the cell of a hooded man wearing a scorpion motif costume. "Let me out," said the prisoner, "I can make it worth your while."

"Yeah...what sort of while? I don't work for blind faith," said Mancer, pausing at the prisoner's cell.

"I'm very well-connected," said the prisoner, "I am the leader of a vast and powerful army."

"Yeah, yeah, but is it a wealthy army?" asked Mancer, rubbing two fingers together meaningfully.

"5 million dollars enough?" said the prisoner.

"Not quite so good in the galactic economy, but it's a start," said Mancer.

"A more permanent income too if you help my organization," said the prisoner,

Mancer thought about it before blasting the door, which melted. "We'll see...boss," he said

* * *

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," said Matt frantically as he ran towards the detention center, "Stupid little legs." He skidded round the corner to see Mancer and some weirdo in a hood, the door to the confiscated items melted open and the prisoner holding some sort of key. "Ok, put down the tacky bling and put your hands up," said Matt.

"Tacky bling? This is the Scorpio Key!" snapped the hooded man, "The most powerful energy weapon on Earth!"

"As in the constellation Scorpio?" asked Matt, looking at the key, "It looks nothing like the sign of Scorpio. If anything, it looks like Sagittarius." A second later, he was blasted through a wall. "Ok...now I get it..." mumbled Matt.

"He's a tough little bugger," said Mancer, "Why don't ya hit him again? For safety?"

Matt managed to get up before a larger blast pinned him in place, before everything went dark...

* * *

...and he came too to see Nova and Spider-Man over him. "Ow..." Matt mumbled.

"You ok?" asked Spider-Man.

"Everything hurts...should fur hurt?" mumbled Matt, before Chloe's voice snapped "Get away from him."

"Wait, before she gets close, is that really Chloe or Silvia?" asked Matt.

Snowbell landed on his chest before saying "Bad version's asleep..." as Chloe ran up.

"That's good," said Matt before Snowbell licked him, "Ah! Bad kitty!"

Chloe sighed. "You need a bath. I'll call Chris and he'll bring the cure," she said, saying, "Looking forward to be the right size."

"Chris had a cure the whole time?" asked Matt with annoyance.

"I'm sure he has a good reason for not providing it now," said Chloe.

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ONLY HAVE ONE SHOT?!" yelled Chloe.

"I checked every freezer. Looks like Megan raided the lab for supplies. Most of the serum's gone off. One dose left," said Chris as Matt held Chloe back.

"Don't they have a synthesizer back at the Triskellion lab?" asked Matt.

"Not one that can bypass the nanite security...and the longer you're like this, the more likely you snap," said Chris, before saying, "So...who wins?"

Matt sighed, "All yours, Chloe."

Chloe seemed thoughtful before saying, "No, you should take it."

"No, not a chance. Silvia's playing marbles with you," snapped Matt.

"And you're gonna demolish any large city you see," said Chloe.

"I'm fine..." snapped Matt.

Chloe yelled, "You threw an empty bus at the jumbotron!"

"Ok, raise your hand if you've been itching to shut up the mudslinger since we got here," said Matt.

"Ok, I'll give you that...but you didn't even check of people were in it," said Chloe, before grabbing Matt and pouring most of the contents down his throat and looking at the dregs. "We got stores of the stuff at the _Bladestorm_. Maybe I don't need much?" she said, downing the last.

"We wouldn't be needing it that much if Kala were still around," muttered Chris.

Matt glared before hiccupping and shifting to dragon form. "Well...least I can find a spare uniform first," he said, "Did it work?"

"I don't feel different. Let me..." started Chloe before shifting to her dragon form, "Oh, that's better. Boy, I haven't been able to use this for a while."

"Yes you have," said Matt, "You just preferred your werewolf form."

"It goes to my head," said Chloe, walking into a side room as she shifted to human, before coming back in her Shar armor.

"Can you still use your werewolf form?" asked Chris.

"Let me check," said Chloe. She concentrated, but nothing happened. "Ok, this is weird," said Chloe.

"Maybe you're just low on moon power," said Chris.

"I'm a daedric werewolf. We never run empty," snapped Chloe.

"Well, moonrise should be...I don't know when," said Matt, "You could stand to use your dragon form more often, anyways."

"Ok, 'mum'." said Chloe sarcastically as Matt went to get his armor

"Well, I guess we need to be looking for Scorpio and Mancer now," said Chris.

However, Chloe put a hand on his chest and said, "Not so fast, lover boy. We've got some catching up to do."

"I'm sorry?" said Chris before yelping as Chloe kissed him.

Matt walked back in and said, "Seriously, Chloe?" before a lightning bolt shot him out.

"I want some me time with my boyfriend," snapped Chloe.

"Well, I want me time with my girlfriend, but you don't see me-" started Matt.

A second lightning bolt knocked him out...

* * *

Owlina looked up smiling as Fury came into view. "Mr. Fury, what can I do for you?"

"I just want to compare notes," said Fury.

"About Mr. Lynch and his friends?" said Owlina.

"If you're wanting to talk about them," said Fury.

"What would you like to know?" said Owlina calmly

"Can we start by leaving out the propaganda?" asked Fury.

"What propaganda?" said Owlina with a cold smile.

* * *

There's another chapter. This one actually went through a small revision. Originally, Scorpio was going to be featured instead of Taskmaster. But we couldn't really think of any follow-up for Scorpio and, by extension, Zodiac. But we will be seeing Taskmaster again, though I'm not sure when.

Anyways, there's going to be a short hiatus. The next few chapters are going to be in a big arc and there are a few additions that need to be made. If all goes well, it can start posting next week. Keep an eye out for it and please review.


	6. Return to the Savage Land, Part 1

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter ****6: Return to the Savage Land, Part 1**

It was standard NSC procedure that after an agent has been a mutation and reversion that they receive a mandatory medical examination. Somehow, Director Fury learned about that protocol.

"This is unnecessary! I had the autodoc check us! OW!" said Chloe, glaring as a blood sample was taken.

"Better safe than sorry," said Dr. Connors, "There's no telling what may still be in your system."

"You have no idea," said Chloe dryly.

"Now, if we could just get your brother off the ceiling," said Dr. Connors, glancing upwards.

Matt, smirking, had discovered his armor had mag boot attachments and had settled for standing on the ceiling. "No blood for you," he said before sticking his tongue out.

"Start throwing stuff at him until he falls down," said Chloe.

"Don't you dare..." snarled Matt.

"This is my lab," said Dr. Connors.

"Ok, guess we'll just have to play piñata," said Chloe, "Anyone got a long stick?"

Matt glared at that. "Try it and I'll eat the stick," he snarled.

"Ok, what else have we got?" asked Chloe, looking around.

"Don't even think about it," snarled Matt before his eyes crossed.

Silvana walked into the room. "Matthew, please get off the roof and let your blood be tested," she asked.

Matt said dully "Sure...why not?" sadly getting down by turning his mag boots off

"I didn't know your psychic powers were that good," said Chloe.

"I wasn't sure if I could affect his boots or not," said Silvana.

Matt grumbled from floor level, "Ow."

"Well, let's get this over with," said Connors.

Matt made a feeble 'ow' as his blood was taken, the blood a sickly purple.

"That's not healthy-looking," said Chloe.

"Yes, but compare it to yours," said Connors, holding up Chloe's sample. Chloe felt sick when she saw hers was almost black, no doubt a consequence of whatever the empire had done to her over the years in their custody. "There could be other factors," said Connors, "You are, or were, a werewolf."

"It began with something else..." said Chloe grimly, walking out.

Matt sighed, "She spent a few years as a bioweapon for one of my rogues gallery. I didn't even know it was her till a few months before she was cured."

"I know what that's like," said Dr. Connors.

"Not even close," said Matt, "You've just had a glimpse. Chloe... Where we come from, we have a natural mental defense that keeps us from being controlled or having our minds altered. What happened to Chloe broke that. When I met her, she nearly killed me without even an ounce of remorse. She...I saw the reports but I'll never tell her...she's responsible for billions when she was brainwashed."

"I...I can't even imagine..." said Connors.

"Don't tell her that," said Matt.

"Of course," said Connors, "Doctor/patient confidentiality."

An alarm began to ring at that. "The heck?" muttered Matt, a blaster materializing from his wristcomp. "Lock the door," he said, walking out.

"What? What is it?" asked Connors.

"No idea...but better safe than sorry," said Matt.

* * *

Heading to the roof, Matt spotted a few Web Warriors already there. "Ok, what have we got?" asked Matt.

"Nothing's breached the doors," said Cho, checking the computer.

Matt checked his wristcomp. "No tachyon emissions so nobody ported in," he said.

"Are we supposed to see something? Because I don't see nothing," said Agent Venom.

Matt paused, sniffing, before his eyes narrowed. "Infected," he hissed, just as 5 robed figures, holding organic-looking rifles came into view, firing green bolts that went through the walls with ease, Matt firing back.

"Where did these guys come from?" asked Kid Arachnid, jumping forward and shooting his webs.

One of them dodged the webbing, firing a hail of darts, the shots seeming to be all aimed at Matt, one hissing "Kill the destroyer."

"Guess they already heard of you," said Kid Arachnid in a joking manner.

"More than you think. Don't let them bite or scratch you," snapped Matt, blasting one in the head.

"Not letting that happen to me again," said Kid Arachnid, grabbing one figure's leg and sending a venom blast into it.

The creature shuddered, the hood falling away to show a lizard who smirked, aiming his rifle. "Takes more than that," he hissed before his head vanished in a mist of plasma.

"Don't hold back! They certainly won't!" snapped Matt.

The remaining creatures continued shooting, the one Matt had shot in the head getting up and continuing to fire

"That guy's got good aim for a headless guy," said Agent Venom. With a sickly cracking sound, a smaller head started emerging from the neck's stump. "Ok, I think I'm gonna be sick," said Agent Venom.

Matt glared, throwing an orb at the infected's foot, a dome of energy engulfing it, before it vanished, leaving holes out of the walls and floor.

The other creatures backed up at that, obviously unnerved by their fellow's destruction. "These guys heal better than the ones I've fought," said Matt, "You have to destroy them completely to get rid of them."

"The destroyer...he vaporized Serak," said one of them, the group reaching to a broach on their robes, vanishing with a blue glow.

Matt checked his wristcomp again. "What? No signatures? They clearly teleported. They had to have left something behind." He hopped across the hole and scanned again. "Oh my God, they could be all over the base," he said, his eyes shrinking with terror.

"Matt. Calm down. There has to be a pattern to this," said Iron Spider.

"You don't know these things. They're capable of depopulating the city in a few hours," snapped Matt.

"If that were true, why show up here of all places? Wouldn't they be in the city right now?" asked Iron Spider.

Matt turned to look at them with a look of fury, "Unless they were here already. What were you experimenting with?"

"Dude, you don't really think we'd experiment with lizards after what happened last time, do you?" asked Kid Arachnid.

Matt took a few breaths before checking his wristcomp. "Warning...Sy-Yong class lifeforms approaching level six labs with unknown reptilian," it said happily.

"Unknown reptilian? What could that- They're going after Connors!" yelled Matt. He ran off at that, snapping into his com, "Chloe...get to Connors's lab NOW!"

* * *

Thankfully, Chloe was able to get back to Connors in plenty of time. "Ok, the important thing is to remain calm," said Chloe, "Don't let the stress get to you."

"My transformations aren't caused by stress, thankfully enough," said Connors.

"Good..." said Chloe, her gun shaking. She remembered Sy-Yong well. The door shook at that. "How strong's that door?" she asked.

"Not as strong as I would like it," said Connors.

A hole was punched at that, Chloe firing before a rasping voice said "Ah...I needed that..." before the door exploded. Behind the door were four Lizard-like beings in robes, each holding a blaster. In front of them stood a creature that looked half-man, half-pterodactyl only wearing a pair of shorts. "Dr. Connors, I presume," croaked the creature in a rasping voice.

Chloe glared. "Oh piss off," she said, the lights flickering before every outlet, plasma screen and light sent a bolt of lightning at the creatures, killing the robed creatures before concentrating on the Pteranodon.

However, the Pteranodon only laughed as the lightning only made him glow. "Poor little human," gloated the pterosaur, "You have no idea who you're dealing with."

"Yeah..." said Chloe, unphased, a long-barreled rifle appearing. "Eat my railgun," she snarled, shifting to dragon hybrid and using her electricity to supercharge the shot.

The Pteranodon's eye ridges rose a bit before he was shot backwards by the railgun's round. Chloe glared, firing the trigger till it ran dry only for the Pteranodon to get up, the rounds having been slowed when he absorbed the electricity in them.

The Pteranodon smirked, dropping the slugs, looking down at them. "You think that's not been tried?" he said, looking back up and being knocked into the corridor by a thrown water tank.

The Pteranodon's eyes spun before focusing on Chloe again. He watched as the winged reptilian was laying into his escort with some sort of energy blade, it was happening in slow motion. He'd never seen someone so...ruthless in combat before, the song 'Loving You' seeming to come from somewhere...

The way her legs clenched as she pulled up a heavy lab table, the way her arms flexed she lifted it above her head, the way she sent it soaring through the air towards. The way she threw a canister at him that had a pink heart on it and said 'have a nice day, smeghead!' on i...oh shit. The pterodactyl was blasted through another wall, which restored his senses somewhat.

"Hmm...business..." he muttered.

* * *

Chloe clicked her energy blade off. "Ok...who the smeg was that?" she snapped. She couldn't really make out anything through the smoke the grenade caused. But then a pair of beams shot out and hit her.

The pterodactyl walked out of the smoke as Chloe tried to get up, before finding herself fixated. "My name...is Sauron..." he snapped, grabbing her wrist, his eyes glowing yellow, Chloe's vision swimming...

* * *

Sauron let go of Chloe, letting her slump before he turned to Connors. "Doctor," he said with an evil smirk.

"What do you want from me?" asked Connors, backing up.

"I want your help, Dr. Connors. There are some...associates who want your aid," sneered Sauron, taking one of the teleport broaches off one of his ex-helpers.

"And I'm betting it's not technical aid," said Connors.

"It's not like you have a choice, doctor," sneered Sauron, before several particle shots hit his back, a few SHIELD troopers and Matt firing at him from the doorway.

"Hey, beakface. Don't you have kids to carry off to your nest?" called Matt.

Sauron glared, before looking at Chloe. "Kill them for your master," he hissed, Chloe stirring, her eyes solid white.

"Chloe, don't do it," said Matt, though it sounded less like pleading to her better nature than warning his kid sister not to do something stupid. Chloe got up with a snarl, before charging the team. "Oh, not again," groaned Matt. He spotted Sauron grabbing Connors and a vial of green liquid, before hitting the teleport broach, Matt hitting him with a dart before they vanished.

The instant they were gone, Chloe blinked, her eyes back to normal. "What just happened?" she asked.

"You were hypnotized by a dragon," said Agent Venom.

"A dragon? Get your eyes checked. That was a dinosaur," said Kid Arachnid.

"Actually, pterosaurs are a different class of reptiles from true dinosaurs," said Iron Spider.

"I'm gonna call him mounted on my wall once I catch him," said Matt, his voice not the usual venom of hate when he made the threat, looking at his wrist comp.

Matt frowned before shaking his wrist comp. "Ok, why am I not seeing anything?" he asked. He paused before zooming it out. "400km...600...800...the southern hemisphere?" he muttered. Matt looked at his wristcomp with disbelief. "Ok, why on Earth would a pterosaur take Dr. Connors to the South Pole? Hey guys, anything interesting in Antarctica?" Matt asked, before seeing their faces. "What?" he said.

* * *

"What all do you know about Antarctica?" asked Nick Fury.

"Uh, it's cold, no one lives there besides penguins, and for some reason a pterosaur took Connors there," said Matt.

"You don't have the Savage Land on your world?" said Fury.

Chloe blinked, "The Savage what?"

Fury displayed several images on his computer, showing a vast, verdant jungle. "The Savage Land is a part of Antarctica that is, for lack of a better term, cut off from time. Things have barely changed there for the last 66 million years," said Fury.

"Wow...Jurassic Park's got nothing on this," muttered Matt.

"Sauron is one of the most notable residents there," said Fury, bringing up his profile, "He's not just a winged reptile, he's an energy vampire."

"Undead! UNDEAD!" said Matt, twitching at hearing the V word.

"Not a literal vampire," said Fury in annoyance, "But he can control almost any reptile and he can drain energy from others."

Chloe sighed. "Matt doesn't like hearing about anything...undead-related," she explained, Matt twitching.

"Well, the similarities end there," said Fury, "And I can only think of one reason why Sauron would want Connors."

"The Lizard serum. He got past for this? Sounds a good way for an express delivery of ICBMs," Said Matt, calming down.

"Guess he doesn't know that Doctor Octopus is the real inventor," said Chloe.

"Doc Connors can replicate it. He keeps some for research on a better antidote," said Fury.

"Of course, he does," said Matt dryly, "So...how do you know that's his plan?"

* * *

"You restrained...a Sy-Yong Infected...unarmed," said Matt, looking at the dejected mutant in the cell.

"The Venom bomb caught me off-guard. He didn't," said Fury.

"Has he said anything else?" said Matt.

Fury shook his head, "No, hard to interrogate someone who regenerates."

Matt smirked, "Give me 10 minutes alone..."

"Matt..." said Chloe in a warning tone.

"I promise he'll be unarmed...and as proof," Matt said, taking off his weapons and setting his wristcomp to lock him in human.

* * *

The lizard man wasn't worried. He knew the mission had succeeded. There was nothing these apes would able to do to make him talk.

"Is the one-eyed ape coming back?" he yelled to the guards, who said nothing, before they listened to their coms, and walked out, turning off the lights. "Is this supposed to scare me? I'm not fresh out the shell," he laughed, before the door opened, a human silhouetted against the light before it shut.

"You think I'm scared of the dark? I can see your heat," said the lizard.

"Oh? You're not scared?" said an icily calm voice, the Infected tensing up. His caste had several recordings of...but that was impossible. That had been millennia ago.

"You know, I've got a history with you guys," said the human.

"No...no...you're just a story," said the Infected, trying to back up.

"Am I? Nice for publicity...and what do the stories say?" said the voice, the figure walking closer.

"That...that your laugh shatters the will of those who hear it. Your screams break their minds completely. That everything you touch explodes if you wish it," said the Infected.

"Hmm...none of those is true. Unless the scream refers to my singing, but still..." said the figure before the light flicked on and the Infected screamed. "SHUT UP!" snapped Matt. The Infected immediately stopped screaming, but was hyperventilating.

"Ok...let's begin. You know I don't need a single weapon to skin you with ease..." said Matt, not serious but letting his hand transform to dragon form briefly for scare tactics. "Now, I could just let you stay in this nice...safe...cell. Would you like that?" he asked.

The Infected just let out a scared squeak.

"Ok, tell me what you have planned for Connors. Now," said Matt, glad he'd turned off the DNA lock once the others were gone.

* * *

Not long later, Matt walked out of the cell. "Did he talk?" asked Fury.

"Talk? I couldn't get him to shut up. All he said is that their leader wants to grant us all purity," said Matt, noticing the camera view, the Infected silently sobbing. "They really hate me," said Matt.

"I'm not that surprised," said Chloe.

"We need to get to the Savage Land," said Matt.

"You're going to need people who have experience there," said Fury, "It's not a city zoo down there."

"Dinosaurs, cavemen, all best when cooked well," said Matt, the Infected having angered him.

"Not much on cavemen, but there are a lot of other nasty surprises. You wouldn't last a day without help," said Fury.

Matt's eyes narrowed at that before Chloe said, "Do we get to choose our team?"

"You can take whatever of your team has wilderness training," said Fury.

"We might need to leave Silvana behind," muttered Chloe, "Metal control won't be much use down there."

"Agreed, I recommend Ka-Zar and Ava to begin with," said Fury.

"Who's Ka-Zar?" asked Matt.

"He lives down there," said Fury, "He'll meet up with you when you get there."

"Parker too. He's got a good head on his shoulders and spider-sense there could be useful," said Matt.

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled to go down there again," said Fury with a smile Matt knew too well. It was the smile he wore when he sent annoying members of his team on missions that are not going to be comfortable for them.

"We'll take the E.G.I.S dropship too. It's faster, better armor, shielded and can cloak alot better than your shuttles," said Matt in a 'my way or I do it anyway' voice.

"Fine. I won't be the one who'll have to order a new one," said Fury.

"Easier than having you guys with weapon-grade particle ion cannons," said Matt.

* * *

"Well, true believers, we're headed back to the Savage Land. I'm not looking forward to it, mostly as the last time I was there, Kraven turned me into a literal spider man," said Spider-Man, "Not to mention the place in generals is not very habitable for any civilized person. They've got dinosaurs, giant bugs, and I think they have man-eating plants, but I'm not entirely sure."

"They have what?" said Zira at that, pushing her head in.

"How many times do we have to tell you to stop self-narrating?" asked Chloe in annoyance.

"He's talking to them though," said Zira.

Matt muttered, "Oh God, it's contagious."

Just then, Spider-Man felt something push against his knee. He looked down to see Snowbell looking up at him and meowing. It would have been more adorable if she were a normal kitten and not a saber-toothed cat.

A ghostly shape shot into her before she said, "I wanna come."

"732, when did you show up?" asked Zira.

"It's Coldladh now," said Snowbell, "I've been around for a while. You didn't think this cat could talk by herself, did you?"

"I thought she was one of those planned 800 series," said Zira.

Snowbell nodding, smirking as Chloe walked over. "Oh, I'm not leaving you behind, honey," she said happily.

"Chloe, we're going to a prehistoric jungle. This is no place for a tiger cub to go to," said Matt in an annoyed tone.

"It's the perfect place for a tiger cub to go to," said Chloe.

"If she were brown or orange. White tigers don't do well in the wild," said Matt. White Tiger paused at that, Matt saying "Boy, this foot in my mouth's tasty." in an annoyed voice.

"He's not entirely wrong," said Spider-Man, "That white costume is really going to stick out."

"Oh, like red and blues are natural colors," snarked White Tiger.

Chloe nodded, "My yellow and Matt's blue are all natural when we use it...but we'll make do," she said, carrying Snowbell onto the dropship, Snowbell blowing a raspberry over her shoulder.

"Right...any other weird pets you wanna tell us about?" asked Spider-Man.

"No, Weirdwolf's with Megan and we left the electric lizard, chupacabra, and technorganic blob back on the _Bladestorm_," said Matt.

Chloe nodded, "Ok, Chris, be so kind as to copilot for my brother."

"Why Chris?" asked Matt.

"You two have bonding to do as future brother-in-laws," said Chloe.

"Don't...say...that...word..." said Matt, his eye twitching violently.

"This is gonna be an awkward flight," said Spider-Man.

* * *

The dropship flew slowly in orbit over earth. "Orbital drop's easier and far faster than flying," said Matt over the ship's intercom. "If you look to your right, you can see the moon," he said, before looking and "And if you look straight ahea-OH SHIT!" he yelped, hitting reverse.

In front of the ship was a group of ships. Or what was left of them. Something had definitely totaled them and they were floating in multiple pieces.

"Dear God...those are Omega Class C's...top of the line...and somethings cored them," said Chris in horror, the class of ship on his and Matt's console readouts.

"What the hell can take out three NSC battleships?" Matt said in a small voice.

"No other wormhole residual. Locals did it..." said Chris, in shock.

"How long have they been floating there?" asked White Tiger.

Matt checked. "That's the _NSS Karisa_...reported missing on infonet 3 days ago. Time dilation...they've been here for nearly a year..." he said.

"It could just be a coincidence," said Spider-Man. The others gave him a look. "It could," said Spider-Man, "If this happened almost a year ago, why'd Sauron and those lizard monks show up now?"

"Maybe...poor sods," muttered Matt, a light from the dropship showing a plasma beam scar that had smashed an entire array of escape pods.

"Approaching drop point...secure all seats," said the computer.

Heading down, they mostly saw the vast white plains of snow that covered most of Antarctica. But as they got closer, a green spot became more noticeable.

"Alert...anomalous temperature spike in regard to location," said the computer.

"Considering it's the one hot spot down here, I don't think that's unusual," said Spider-Man.

"Temperature spike identified on par with dark matter power source..." said the computer.

"Ok, that's unusual," said Spider-Man.

"We'll mark it for later," said Chris, marking the location in the navcomp.

"Ok, I'll land us at the coast and we'll hike in. Anyone know where we're meeting this-" began Matt before the ship shook.

"Incoming weapon fire...shields at 86%."

"Ok, what's shooting at us?" asked White Tiger.

"Vessels identified...Chitauri hovercraft...light class..." said the computer.

Matt said, "Hope nobody gets airsick. Chris, get on the rear gun..." before he pulled hard left, several Chitauri hovercraft shooting past, their shots going wide from the sudden turn of their prey.

"What are Chitauri doing here?" asked Spider-Man, "Usually they're working for someone and trying to blow up New York."

Matt glared as one went past, Infected driving it. "Yeah...Chitauri..." he said darkly, firing the front cannons as it flew in front, blowing it to pieces. "I think Sauron knows we're coming," he said sarcastically.

"Give me a sec to process the weirdness of this," said Spider-Man. A second later, he said, "Ok, I'm done. Where are the gun stations?"

"Only one and Chris is at it. Strap in," called Matt, forcing the ship to take a sharp turn as he spotted one of the hovercrafts trying to grapple onto one of the side doors. "Chloe, can you get that?" asked Matt.

Chloe walked over to the door, using grav boots to remain stable, before, as the door opened, she gave them a smile. "Sorry, no salesmen or reptilian monsters," she said, slicing the cables. The hovercraft fell away from the ship, but more were shooting at the currently-open door.

Chloe glared, sending a bold into the first hovercraft, exploding it before the others peeled off, still firing at the ship but ignoring her, Chloe glaring and shifting to dragon hybrid form and taking off.

"You better clear out before you taste the wrath of Voltrix!" called Chloe.

Matt yelled behind her, "CHLOE!"

"It's the little things in life," said Chloe happily, sending another bolt at a hovercraft before a third was chewed up by the ship's rear turret. Just then, she noticed that the hovercrafts were turning tail. "Ha, can't take the thunder, could you?" she taunted.

She turned to see the dropship was small now. "Oh poop..." she muttered before a blast hit her in the back...

* * *

"Chris, can you see...urgh...Voltrix?" said Matt with annoyance.

"Uh, she shouldn't be that far away," said Chris, checking the scanners.

"She's out of practice!" snapped Matt, before the collision alarm rang, the two looking up to see a damaged hovercraft flying at them. Matt, to his credit tried to turn, but the hovercraft sheared off the left engine. "Shit! Everyone, we're landing here. Don't get up," Matt said, hitting the eject buttons, each seat sealing into a pod with its owner before dropping through the bottom.

The pods dropped straight down. It was a bit uncertain if they were going to land in the coast or the Antarctic Ocean, but it was going to be close.

Matt, through the wind from the new holes, heard Chris on the com yell, "Punch out! You're going down!"

"Just need to take care of one last thing," called Matt.

He looked forward to try and spot a clearing. All the fuel could cause a forest fire that would cook half the Savage Land. As he managed to fly just over the tip of a hill, he was almost awestruck to see an almost...organic ship at the end of a crash skid, flashes seen in front of it.

He didn't have time for anything else as he had to get out or explode with the ship. "Abandon ship!" snapped Matt, hitting the control for his pod, only for the computer to say "Malfunction...ejector offline." Matt staring.

* * *

Zaris, a moderately-built reptilian fired his blaster, turning a Savage Land lizardman to ash. "Keep your heads down!" he yelled. The other reptilians were diving into foxholes as the burning ship was getting closer.

Zaris glared at it before snapping, "Ensign, photon grenade on the treeline. See if that discourages them." The reptilian threw the grenade toward the treeline, before covering his eyes as it let out a bright flash. A second later, a blast hit him, turning him into an ash statue that crumbled.

"Goddammit!" he snapped, before glaring at the ship. "The hell is that pilot doing?" he snapped, before he and his remaining crew ducked as the ship's main guns fired, strafing their attackers before smashing into them, the cockpit sliding to a halt, mostly intact. "Tiza, Lana, get that pilot out of there. I wanna shake his hand," snapped Zaris, the locals running for it.

Two female reptilians headed towards the cockpit, though the fires were a bit of a deterrent. The red-scaled one climbed up, before smashing the front viewport with her blaster, pulling a blue-scaled winged reptilian out, the two dragging him back just before the ship exploded.

"He looks related to Sauron," growled one reptilian.

Zaris walked over and sniffed him. "No, not even close. He's definitely not a pterosaur," he said. There were several howls from the jungle. "Ok, everyone back in. Get this hotshot to the medibay," he said.

* * *

Matt groaned, coming too slowly. The last thing he'd remembered was seeing the ship's crew being attacked and strafing their attackers, shifting to hybrid form just before landing...and a crossbar heading for his head.

"Urgh..." he muttered, seeing a red blurry shape.

"Take it easy. You took a bad blow," said a voice. It sounded a bit distorted to Matt's ears, but he thought it sounded female.

"Crossbar...the ship was breaking up..." muttered Matt, his head tingling as his nanites got to work stopping the concussion from being worse than a headache.

"You were lucky to get out of there in one piece," said the voice, which was coming clearer at the same time as Matt's vision. The vision solidified on an Infected with a kind smile, wearing a grey jumpsuit with an open stomach, from rips. Matt tried to push himself back before collapsing back. "Easy...you're lucky to be alive," the Infected said with concern

"I have to get-" started Matt before pausing as he got a better look at the Infected. She was definitely a lot different from the other infected he had seen earlier. For starters, she was identifiable as female because of a figure that did not belong with reptiles. She also had a nearly-flat face combining a short muzzle with human proportions that weren't ugly. Actually, the main things that separated her from being human were the red scales, the small muzzle, the lack of hair, the spines on her scalp and down her back, and the tail.

"Y...yo...you..." gibbered Matt, trying to scrabble back more, before he said in terror, "GET AWAY FROM ME!" shielding his face.

"Sir, I need you to calm down," said the lizard woman, "You're putting too much stress on your heart."

"GET BACK!" yelled Matt, pointing a hand to cause a plasma blast, only for nothing to happen.

"You're fine. No one is going to hurt you," said the lizard woman.

Matt soon felt something pressing against his mind. Immediately, he swung at her and yelled, "STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Lana jumped back at that. "Wait, you aren't Navaki? Oh no...oh no oh no oh no," she said, starting to hyperventilate.

"You bet your patookie I'm not Navaki!" snapped Matt before asking, "What's Navaki?"

"I'm Navaki. We all are...and we thought you were when you saved us from those savages and those traitorous religious caste," said Lana, saying "If I'd known, I'd have used the nanites and not nipped you. I thought your healing factor just needed a boost."

Matt lost some of his anger and fear when he saw she seemed genuinely scared. "Ok, ok, let's try to take stock of this situation," said Matt, more to himself than her. He felt himself over to see if he was still a dragon.

He saw he more or less looked the same, grabbing a mirror to see that his horns had gone and his eyes had the bloodshot look of the average Infected but other than that he seemed the same...except he couldn't change back.

"Ok, I'm not that far removed from what I was and I don't seem to have an unrelenting instinct to spread infection to everyone," said Matt.

"What are you? A throwback? That was removed millennia ago," said Lana with a weak laugh.

"The guys palling around with Sauron seem to be that type," said Matt.

"Religious caste. They're right as long as they don't attack traders. They pestered the council into making us come here for a one-armed god and the great destroyer..." laughed Lana.

"One-armed god and great destroyer?" asked Matt.

Lana sighed and said, "You may as well hear it from someone who won't be trying to twist the truth. Legend goes, back when we couldn't control ourselves, one of us rebelled and tried to protect our victims from us...killed alot of us too.

"It was said that this Navaki was invincible. That he would destroy colony after colony. Some would tell you that he eventually ascended to godhood, though not in a good way," said Lana, "But the legend tells that in a final attempt to destroy all Navaki once and for all, he banished us all to a faraway world, which is our homeworld. So some see 'The Banisher' as a messianic figure who gave us our promised land."

Matt smirked before frowning as Lana laughed. "Oh please, it's just a conspiracy theory by people who got cracked in the shell," she said.

Matt's eye twitched. "Did he do it with a scythe?" he said.

"It varies a lot with the telling, but a scythe's the most common version," said Lana.

"Yeah...it was surprisingly light," said Matt aimlessly, pausing.

"Oh please. If you're going to try and pretend to be a god, do it for someone who actually believes," said Lana.

"But I did. You were living in sewers. You tried to eat me multiple times. YOU'VE HAUNTED MY NIGHTMARES FOR YEARS!" snapped Matt.

Lana was hardly convinced. She would think the nemesis/savior of her people wouldn't be so scrawny. But she could see that he believed it for some demented reason. She gently delved into his memories and recoiled.

"Would you mind not poking inside my head?" asked Matt, "I'm pretty sure it's rude for telepaths."

"You...you're...oh dear God, the nutters were right...you're..." stammered Lana.

Matt sighed. "Captain Lynch, Constellation Private Security," he said, offering a hand.

Lana took his hand at that "Lana of the Military caste. You...you're not gonna kill me?" she said in a shaking voice.

Matt sighed, "If you can forget about me...maybe I can forgive and forget too."

"I have to admit, I'd have thought the Banisher would be a lot taller," said Lana.

"Well, the legend doesn't tell that I'm a dragon either," said Matt.

"Oh...cool," said Lana, before noticing his scales were a network of old scars. "By the Connor," she said, in shock before realizing Matt's left arm was cybernetic. "What happened to you?" she asked, feeling more confident now she realized the boogeyman of her species was a regular guy about her size.

"Well, I've been in a lot of fights," said Matt, "Some of those scars came from fighting Infected."

"What's an Infected?" said Lana.

Matt gulped. "Not important. Look I got friends out there..." said Matt.

Lana sighed, "You can't go out there. The jungle's a deathtrap at night."

"Well, how long until morning?" asked Matt before pausing and saying, "Wait a second, this is Antarctica. The day and night cycles last 6 months each."

"There's some sort of device that simulates the day/night cycle. We think we clipped it on the way down," said Lana.

"So what does that mean?" asked Matt.

"It means the nights and days aren't 6 months long," said Lana, her eyes still on Matt.

"Ok, so how long until morning?" asked Matt, "Those guys will be eaten alive out there."

"You've been out for 12 hours. If they went down in the jungle, all you can hope is one of the less hostile savages find them," said Lana.

"12 hours?!" snapped Matt, trying to make his way out.

"You were really badly hurt..." said Lana, following him, a few others of Lana's kind, wearing the same jumpsuits watching them go past.

"For all I know, my friends are near the end of an Allosaurus's digestive tract by now!" snapped Matt.

"If that's the case, then running out into the night'll just get you killed too. I'm sure Captain Zeris'll organize a search party for the morning," said Lana.

Matt stopped before giving an annoyed sigh. There was no point in getting himself killed trying to rescue them. "Fine. I'll wait until morning," said Matt, "I don't suppose you've contacted one particular local?"

"No, just that insane pterodactyl. We chased him off." said Lana smugly.

"So you haven't met any humans here," said Matt.

"Not that we saw, at least not talking. Humans are just stories anyway," laughed Lana.

Matt glared. "Don't start again... Well, as soon as first light comes, I want to... What are you doing?" asked Matt as Lana felt his right arm.

"Uh, checking to see if there was any damage here," said Lana, slightly squeezing Matt's muscles.

Matt paused, sighing. "It's fine...I have...had a girlfriend," he said.

"Did she land here?" asked Lana.

"She's not anywhere near here," said Matt.

"Aw...she dumped you?" said Lana.

Matt said, "No...she infected me with a mutagen and sent a kill team after me."

"Oh..." said Lana, suddenly feeling a bit awkward.

"Hey, you're not psychic," said Matt in a friendly tone, shuddering a little realizing he could sense her shame. "So, uh, what do you guys have to eat around here?" asked Matt.

* * *

The next morning, Matt was led down to the makeshift canteen with Lana, to see, to his personal horror there was barely 10 of these 'Navaki' Infected in there, one wearing a red jumpsuit, Matt muttering, "Well he's dead first."

At that point, Matt heard Lana's voice in his head ask _"What do we call you? I'd...rather not get in trouble for converting an outsider."_

Matt paused at that before trying to think. _"Erm...no, not that...Sokaris,"_ he thought.

_"Sokaris?"_ asked Lana.

_"You got a better suggestion?"_ thought Matt annoyed.

_"I would the Banisher would have a kinglier name,"_ thought Lana.

_"Well, legends aren't- Wait, I got it. Korono,"_ thought Matt.

Lana paused before thinking, _"It suits you. Now how do we explain how you're not an outsider?"_

_"Leave it to me,"_ thought Matt with a smirk, that caused Lana to shudder before Matt thought, _"So who's the boss?"_

Lana thinking back, _"The 'red shirt'."_

_"Oh...you guys might want to wear something else here,"_ thought Matt.

* * *

Zeris looked up as Lana walked up with the pilot. "Cadet, I see our mystery hero's ok..." he said calmly.

The pilot said, "Korono, trader. I was exploring when I saw your predicament."

Zeris raising an eye ridge. "You seem a long way from our part of the galaxy," said Zeris.

"I like to explore," said Korono.

Zeris noticed Lana's tail lashing a bit when she watched Korono, him thinking to her, _"Cadet...are you...eyeballing our guest?"_

_"Me? No, why would I be looking at the hunky pilot who saved our camp?"_ Lana thought frantically.

Zeris smirked before he said to Korono, "So, you'll be from the Okari Orbital city. Most of our pilots are from there."

Korono was about to reply when Lana told him _"Careful, that's a trick question."_

Zeris smirked, not letting up he'd heard that. "You know, I don't need to interrogate someone who saved my men. Are any of your crew out there? Rasuka said your ship smelled like it had multiple crew," he said, Lana letting out a breath.

"They had to eject," said Korono, "I had to stay behind to make sure the ship didn't cause a wildfire where it crashed."

"Good man. I hope they're ok. We'll be sending out a forage team in a few hours. If you wanna go with them…" said Zeris.

"Could it be sooner?" asked Korono.

"Not really. The raptors like to hunt around this time," said Zeris.

"Oh, I guess I can wait a while longer," said Korono.

Lana visibly perked up at that, Zeris muttering to himself, "Young love..."

Matt blinked as he felt a sudden warmth of affection towards Lana. "Take it easy," muttered Matt, "This is no time for Florence Nightingale syndrome." With that, he walked out of the canteen.

Lana walked out after him to find him leaning against the wall. "Matt...are you ok?" she said, Matt wincing.

"I'm fine," said Matt, "Just can't stay in one spot too long. I get restless."

"You sure? I was worried," said Lana, taking his hand.

"I'm fine, really," said Matt.

"Are you sure?" asked Lana, looking at him.

"Yes, I'm sure!" snapped Matt, yanking his hand away.

Lana's face fell at that. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize I upset you..." she said.

"You're not upsetting me. That's...kinda the problem," said Matt.

"Why's that bad?" said Lana, confused.

"How long have you been old enough to be in the navy?"

"Since I came of age," said Lana.

"And how long ago was that?" asked Matt, slightly annoyed.

"This was my first run...soooo...8 months ago," said Lana, Matt banging his head against the wall when she looked away to work it out.

* * *

5 minutes after Matt crashed...

Chris, in Wolf-Bat form, shook himself off. "I'm gonna kill Matt. Thank God for lakes," he muttered.

"Any landing you can walk away form, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"Yeah...least the plesiosaur was nice," said Chris aimlessly before making a small burp.

"Er...anyways...we need to find where the girls landed," said Spider-Man.

The two looked up to see the smoke from the ship, a larger plume in the distance. "Hope Lynch got out. That crash looks nasty," he muttered.

"Me too," said Spider-Man.

"On the plus side, he's walked away from worse," said Chris, looking around, "Ok...you were here before. Is there anywhere safe?"

"Uh..." said Spider-Man hesitatingly.

"Oh crap. All we got is the survivor pack," muttered Chris, taking a slightly soggy pack out.

"Let's just head to high ground," said Spider-Man.

"Good idea..." said Chris, readying his blaster rifle, looking up at the skies, "Come on, Chloe. Be waiting for us, for God's sake."

* * *

Elsewhere, Chloe was slowly waking up. She soon got the feeling she was in a cave, a well-lit one. She got up and looked around, before seeing a lizard creature. It was definitely not one of the Infected, the mandibles on its lips gave it away.

"Hey, you, get over here." snapped Chloe, the creature hissing in terror and wincing before slowly coming forward.

"What...misssstressss want?" it hissed.

"Mistress?" asked Chloe, not sure whether to like or dislike the sound of that.

"Yesss...Lord say you misstress...to be obeyed like himmmm. He stop those who used star pain on you," hissed the creature.

"Star pain?" asked Chloe.

"Yes...blue bolts of the sun..." said the creature.

Chloe caught on. "Those morons in the hovercraft?" she said. The creature looked at her with confusion. "The...uh, flying sleds?" asked Chloe.

"The star gods? Our lord convinced them to help us," said the creature.

"Right...I think I want to talk to Sauron now," said Chloe.

"He said you must recover," said the creature, blocking the door.

"I'm recovered enough," said Chloe.

"He said you would be hungry," said the creature.

"I'm not... Ok, I am a little peckish," said Chloe. The creature winced, holding out its hands. "Uh, I'd like actual food," said Chloe.

"He said you would need energy..." said the creature.

"I think he means like protean, carbohydrates, something with actual substance," said Chloe. When the creature gave her a blank look, Chloe got annoyed and snapped, "Just bring me something I can put in my mouth!"

"He was very clear..." said the creature, Chloe glaring, grabbing its shoulders and immediately starting to feel stronger, the creature whimpering. Chloe quickly let go, a nasty taste tingling her mouth.

The creature crumpled, whimpering, Chloe realizing with a chill she felt fuller...but she felt even hungrier now. "No way, no way. Matt would flip if I become a vampiress," said Chloe.

She paused, the hunger getting worse, the creature saying weakly, "I was told...to feed you..."

"I prefer real food, something that I actually chew and swallow," said Chloe.

"I...will get you...something..." said the creature, pushing herself up, Chloe stopping herself from helping her up.

As soon as the creature left, Chloe tried to think of how to get out of this situation. "Ok, I don't know where I am, except that I'm probably near Connors. And he's done something to me," she said to herself.

"I need to get me and Connors out of here. Try to find the others. Ok...this door shouldn't be too hard," she said, trying the lock using a claw to pick it, the door opening only for a green clawed hand to grab her wrist.

"Going somewhere?" asked Sauron, in what appeared to be a friendly tone.

Chloe yelped, trying to pull away. "Get off me, you smeghead, before I wear your spine as a necklace!" she snapped angrily.

"Now, now, is that any way to speak to your groom?" asked Sauron.

"Groom?" snapped Chloe, before her eyes blazed and she attempted the infamous 'Megan kick'.

Sauron caught her leg before it made contact. "Please, have a bit more class," said Sauron.

"I'll give you class!" snapped Chloe, before trying to drain him.

Sauron laughed and said, "I can't be drained by my own power."

Chloe glared before pushing him back and looking for a weapon of any kind. "I am not your bride," she snapped.

"Not just yet," said Sauron, "You'll come around. After all, if I am to be king of the world, I'll need a queen."

"I will not...not..." began Chloe, her stomach doing a flip.

"The process will take time," said Sauron, "You'll have more meals before you're ready for our wedding."

Chloe was just staring, as her hand scales turned a light brown, Sauron stepping aside to let the same servant and a few others from before walk in.

* * *

Meanwhile, White Tiger was trying to keep to the plan. Which wasn't exactly easy when she was stuck with Zira, Snowbell, and Coldlahd.

Zira, to her credit, was enjoying herself. "So much trees. I love this place," she said, not noticing a pair of eyes from the water.

"Zira, this isn't a playground," said White Tiger, "This place is really dangerous."

"Oh please. We're tougher then we-" began Zira before the crocodile swallowed her.

White Tiger was ready to attack before Snowbell said, "Wait for it." before the crocodile's eyes widened, it twitched before its jaws were forced open by a hulked-out Zira.

"Bad gator," growled Kira.

The crocodile just looked surprised before Kira picked it up by the tail and threw it out of sight, before shrinking down to Zira. "Even Kira's having fun," she said happily.

"So...what kind of relationship do you two have?" asked White Tiger.

"Kira looks after me," said Zira happily.

"Ok and what about you two?" asked White Tiger, looking at Snowbell.

Coldlahd flew out of Snowbell who shook her head and loped over to a tree. "I found the poor kid. I activated from my pod to find my ship hand landed on her folks. So I looked after her," the experiment said.

"Oh. And without you in there, she's just a normal cub, right?" asked White Tiger.

"Mostly..." said Coldlahd, adding, "I was in her head for several months. It...made some modifications to her."

Snowbell called, "Hey, I can smell another of me."

"I thought you said you needed to be in her so she could talk," said White Tiger.

"Yeah...I just said that so Chloe wouldn't dehydrate me. She's got an attachment to the little fuzzball," said Coldlahd before pausing, "Wait...did she say she could smell another saber tooth?"

"Only one other saber tooth that I know of," said White Tiger.

* * *

Snowbell happily loped through the underbrush, following the scent before pausing. The scent was on the other side of a bunch of weird flowers. The flowers were quite vibrant, having long yellow petals with blue stripes. The centers of the flowers were unusually in that they were a very bright green. They looked like some kinda crossbreed between a daffodil and an orchid.

"Ooooh…" she said, before hearing a rustle, turning to see several raptors come out the brush.

_"Hey look, Skyclaw. Food that comes to us,"_ sneered one of them.

Snowbell tilted her head. "You look weird," she said.

_"Looks like a tasty morsel,"_ growled the largest one.

Snowbell grinned, saying, "You'll be sooorryyyyy…" in a sing-song voice.

_"She's just a cub. Get her!"_ snapped the leader. The leader leapt forward at Snowbell, who burped white smoke at him, the flash frozen raptor landing with a 'clink', saying _"mmmmph."_

The other raptors looked at one another. _"I'm suddenly allergic to sabretooth meat,"_ said one of them, the others nodding. The raptors carefully picked up their leader, shivering a bit as his cold skin.

"Byeeee," said Snowbell happily, waving a paw before following the original scent through the flowers, the smell making her tingle. She wanted to stop and roll in the flowers, but she had other things to do.

She pushed her way through the undergrowth to see a larger sabretooth, "Hello," she said. The bigger sabretooth gave her a confused look at that. Snowbell smiled before saying in sabre, _"My name's Snowbell. Please don't eat my friends."_

_"I wouldn't eat them,"_ replied the sabretooth in sabre language.

_"That's nice. They're my friends,"_ said Snowbell with the pure innocence of a child.

_"Where are they?"_ asked the sabretooth.

Snowbell pointed a paw at the group he'd been watching. _"There,"_ she said.

The Smilodon looked and was mildly surprised to see the human. _"What's White Tiger doing here?"_ he asked.

_"You know her?"_ said Snowbell, happy that it seemed this grown-up wasn't gonna turn her friends into dinner.

_"I've trained with her at the human training grounds,"_ said the Smilodon.

_"Yay, that mean you don't wanna eat them?"_ said Snowbell happily.

_"The others...don't look appetizing anyways,"_ said the Smilodon, not even sure what the odd creatures were.

_"Oh, that's Coldlahd and Zira. They're nice too,"_ said Snowbell.

"Zabu, where are you?" called a human voice.

Snowbell looked over to see a human dressed like one of the strange humans near Markarth. Zabu gave a roar, more to tell where he was than to say anything in particular.

The human and White Tiger and the experiments turned at that, Snowbell running out and saying happily in human, "I found some new friends."

"Strange. Tigers can't speak like people," said the savage human.

"Snowbell is not a normal tiger," said White Tiger.

"What White Tiger doing down here?" asked the savage human.

"We need your help, Ka-Zar," said White Tiger, "Dr. Connors has been kidnapped by Sauron."

"Sauron...he has caused much trouble for the tribes here since flying machine arrived," said Ka-Zar.

"You knew about the aliens? Why didn't you call for help?" asked White Tiger.

"Savage Land is Ka-Zar's home. Ka-Zar protects own home," said Ka-Zar.

Zira snapped, "You should have called for help." only to yelp as Zabu growled at her.

"Savage Land not welcome to outsiders. Most won't survive," said Ka-Zar.

Zira snapped, "Wait...are you saying our friends are probably being eaten as we speak?" Her eyes were glowing faintly.

"Could be," said Ka-Zar.

"We need to find them, NOW!" snapped Zira, twitching a little, Coldlahd floating back from her.

"Was already tracking them," said Ka-Zar, "We must go now."

* * *

"So...last time you were here you got turned into a giant spider?" said Chris, the two following smoke.

"Apparently," said Spider-Man, "I don't really remember it."

"Nasty...guess we need to be careful around the flora," said Chris, sniffing the air, "Urgh...too many smells. Can't tell where Chloe is."

"I would guess she's at Sauron's lair, wherever that is," said Spider-Man.

"Urgh...poor Sauron. She'll turn him inside out," said Chris.

"I just hope we don't get turned inside..." started Spider-Man before they entered a clearing and came face-to-face with a T. rex. "Out!" yelped Spider-Man.

The T-rex roared as the duo backed up before it paused, squinting before, after looking at Parker, went wide eyed and actually backed up a step. "Um, boo?" tried Spider-Man. The T Rex turned tail at that, giving a panicked roar.

"The heck?" said Chris after a minute, noticing a bite scar on its tail.

"Huh, maybe dinosaurs can have arachnophobia too. It seemed...familiar," said Spider-Man in confusion.

"Did it try to eat you before?" asked Chris.

"I don't remember...maybe something that happened as the Man-Spider..." said Spider-Man in confusion.

"Well, it stopped us from being tyrannosaur chow so I'm not complaining. So, where would Sauron go to nest?" asked Chris.

"Hmm..." said Spider-Man before noticing a flock of pterosaurs above them, "Say, maybe if we follow them, we'll find Sauron."

"Good a plan as any..." said Chris.

"Then let's hurry. We don't want to lose them," said Spider-Man before webswinging after the flying reptiles.

* * *

"As you can see, Lord Sauron, our stealth technology outstrips anything the apes have. They have no idea they are watched," said one of the robed Infected with a hiss, several holographic views showing the groups, the one monitoring Matt aiming through a window in the ship.

"So much more convenient for watching my realm and my enemies," said Sauron.

"Until we retake the ship from the heretics though, we cannot create more," said another Infected.

"This will do for a start," said Sauron, "It's a shame I can't see through the eyes of my subjects."

"Agreed. Legends say only the infected of old could when our hive mind was stronger," said a third infected, causing even Sauron to shudder, especially as that one had been out of earshot of the one he'd spoken to.

"Well, we have some experimenting to do to recreate that power and improve it," said Sauron.

"We do have the other scientist we grabbed..." said one of the Infected

"Ah yes, that lab assistant. What was his name again?" asked Sauron. He held up a nametag that had been removed from that scientist and studied it. "Hmm, Vincent Stegron. How...prophetic..." said Sauron sinisterly.

"We have limited technology, but I think we can do something," sneered a female Infected.

"Well, let's get to work," said Sauron.

* * *

Well, this is the start of a week-long arc taking place in the Savage Land. There's going to be a lot adventures featured down here. As you can see, it's already off to a momentous start. There will be updates once a day for every day this week. Look for the next chapter tomorrow and please review.


	7. Return to the Savage Land, Part 2

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Webs**

**Chapter 7: Return ****to the Savage Land, Part 2**

"Well, I'm back in the place where I never thought I'd be again: the Savage Land. A prehistoric world that time forgot, hidden in Antarctica. And the reason I'm here is because my friend Dr. Connors has been kidnapped by Sauron and evil lizard aliens. Only when we got here, our ship was wrecked and we got scattered. Right now, me and Chris-"

A second later, a coconut narrowly missed him. "Hey! This is not the time for narration!" Chris snapped.

"I only hope the others are having more luck," said Spider-Man.

"Yeah, I was referring to the fact that these things might hear us," hissed Chris, pointing to the Pteranodon people, who had landed to make camp for the night.

"Oh, right," said Spider-Man.

* * *

Zira was first up, to see a bunch of raptors peering at the group, one looking like it had a cold. "Cool." she said. The raptors growled at her. "You look hungry," said Zira, "Here, have some fruit." The ill-looking raptor sneezed at that before chirping at its fellows, the raptors walking forward, Zira grinning evilly.

* * *

White Tiger woke up when a raptor flew into a tree beside her and ran for it, Kira cackling insanely as she beat up the raptor pack, a sneezing one facepalming from where it watched.

"You couldn't have found a more pleasant way to wake me up?" griped White Tiger.

"Hey, they were gonna eat you," snapped Kira, punching out a second one.

"Eat...what's there to have for breakfast around here?" asked White Tiger.

"They're velociraptors. Do the math," sneered Kira, before one raptor tried to bite her hand...and got lifted up and headbutted.

"I mean our breakfast," said White Tiger.

Kira said, "My other half can handle that." as the last of the pack ran for it, shifting back to Zira, who smiled pleasantly as if she hadn't been beating the snot out of a pack of apex predators.

"There is fruit that is safe to eat here, right?" asked White Tiger.

"If not, I can grow some. I was designed to terraform colony sites," said Zira.

"Oh, that's convenient," said White Tiger.

"Though this soil's all weird..." said Zira, a small plant growing next to her and sprouting what looked like a purple pineapple. "Ooooh...it's not poisonous," she said after sniffing it.

"Uh...Ka-Zar, do you know where there's edible fruit here?" asked White Tiger.

"Hey..." complained Zira.

Ka-Zar saie "There are fruit like that. Coconuts as well." He picked the mutant fruit and using a crude dagger from his belt to cut the skin off.

"Oh, ok," said White Tiger, "I just wasn't sure what Mesozoic fruit would do to a human stomach."

"Do not eat the skin," said Ka-Zar calmly.

Zira looked around. "Where's Snowbell?" before a scream was heard.

"Was that Zabu?" asked White Tiger.

"It sounded too high," said Ka-Zar.

The group headed past some bushes to where Zabu was growling at an adolescent female sabretooth who looked panicked.

"I didn't know there were other saber teeth here," said Ka-Zar.

"How many saber-teeth have you seen with white fur?" asked White Tiger.

Coldlahd floated up before he shot into the female's head and out again. "It's...it's Snowbell," she said in surprise.

"Ok, I know this land is supposed to be lost in time or something like that, but I'm pretty sure cats don't grow up overnight here," said Zira.

"I...what...why is everyone smaller?" said the female in shock, looking around.

"Ok, there can't be two talking saber cats with white fur," said White Tiger, "But how did this happen?"

Ka-Zar peered at her, before he said, "The flower...the same one used on Spider-Man..."

"How could a flower cause this?" asked Coldlahd.

"I heard about this. It sent Spider-Man feral, turned him into a literal spider," said White Tiger, Snowbell trying to make herself look smaller.

"So why would it make Snowbell bigger?" asked Coldlahd.

Zira rolled her eyes, "No...she looks older."

"Same question applies," said Coldlahd.

"It is making her one with the Savage Land," said Ka-Zar, Snowbell looking even more worried

"She was already a sabre-toothed tiger," said Zira, "How much more savage can she get?"

"Yeah...one that's basically the team mascot and before that, had me looking out for her. She's not had to hunt a thing," said Coldlahd.

"Tigers not pets," said Ka-Zar disapprovingly.

"My pod landed on her folks. I wasn't gonna let her get eaten," said Coldlahd, icily.

"Raise her, good. But not raised like tiger," said Ka-Zar.

"So sorry...I left my tiger rearing book back at the exploding laboratory," said Coldlahd sarcastically.

"Let's focus less about the past and more about the present," said White Tiger.

"Yeah, she's my bud. What's this...whatever gonna do to her?" snapped Coldlahd.

"Bring out wild side, awaken beast within," said Ka-Zar.

"Well, she was already a beast, so it's not gonna do a lot, right?" asked Zira.

Snowbell twitched at that, growing slightly larger with a crackle before growling at Zira. "Except reawaken her hunting instincts," said White Tiger.

Coldlahd snapped, "No eating my sis." before she shot into Snowbell's head. Snowbell paused before saying in the experiment's tone of voice, "Man, her brain's a mess. Whatever this stuff is, it's nasty."

"Can you control her long?" asked White Tiger.

"For a while. But unless Zira wants a new sister, I can't stay in here too long," said Coldlahd.

"Ok, Spider-Man didn't return as a big spider, so there must be an antidote," said White Tiger.

"There is, but hard to make. Creature needed do not live in this part of Savage Land." said Ka-Zar.

"Then we better find it quick," said White Tiger.

Snowbell nodded, Coldlahd saying, "Yeah...before Snowbell tries to eat someone."

At that, Snowbell shook her head, actually throwing Coldlahd out. Snowbell roared loudly, but the sound of her own roar seemed to snap her to her senses. She fell down, curling up before whimpering in English, "I want mum...where's Chloe?"

"We're going to find her," said White Tiger in a soothing voice, "We're going to get everyone home." Snowbell rubbed her head against White Tiger's side with a happy purr at those words. "Good kitty," said White Tiger, scratching Snowbell's back.

Snowbell purred some more before Zira sniffed her. "Maybe be careful. We dunno if she still has some of that mutagen on her."

"What are you going to make her do? Take a bath?" asked Coldlahd.

"I'm just saying. If there is still some of that stuff on her, anyone touching her could catch it," said Zira, adding "I know plants."

"Ok, Snowbell, down girl," said White Tiger, pushing the big cat away.

Snowbell got down. "Sorry," she said.

"We better get hunting for whatever we need to find," said Coldlahd.

"The animal does not live in this part of the Savage Land. We will need to travel closer to the mountains." said Ka-Zar calmly.

Snowbell gulped. "What'll happen when this takes full effect?" she asked.

"We hope we're not part of your food chain," said Coldlahd.

"I'll eat you? I'd never do that," said Snowbell, horrified.

"If your hunting instincts are strong enough, you won't even care," said Coldlahd. Snowbell's ears went flat at that, her head hanging.

"We'll get to it in time," said White Tiger, "You don't need to worry.

"I hope so. My head hurts," grumbled Snowbell.

"Let's not waste time," said Ka-Zar.

* * *

Travelling through the Savage Land was not easy. There were no straight paths, or anything really recognizable as a path. It mostly involved swinging from tree branches.

Snowbell throughout this had continued to grow, now the same size as Zabu. She said in a voice that, to Zira, reminded her of Chloe, "How...much further?" sounding like she was struggling to form a sentence

"Should not be far," said Ka-Zar, "_Megamiphitis_ live near here."

Zira paused as her mind looked it up. "Skunks?" she said in a deadpan voice, asking, "How is that gonna help? You gonna have it fart on her?"

"Well..." said Ka-Zar. "Hold up a moment. Isn't there a better way than getting skunked?" asked Zira.

"The scent glands contain antidote for savage wildflower," said Ka-Zar, "It does work."

"Good...head...all...foggy..." said Snowbell, with a growl.

"Then we better..." said White Tiger before she nearly slipped from her branch.

"You ok?" asked Zira.

"Fine...sinuses are getting a bit clogged up," said White Tiger, "It's throwing off my sense of balance."

The group pushed past some wood to see a clearing...and smoke in the distance. "No," said Ka-Zar before running faster.

The group followed, Snowbell catching on and yelping, "No, no, no!" The group caught up to see a section of wood had been torched.

"Coldlahd, start spraying down ice before it spreads too far," said White Tiger.

Coldlahd nodded, taking off and flying, a white smoke coming out, before snow started falling, the fires being extinguished. "Who did this?" said Snowbell in horror.

Zabu started sniffing the ashes, growling as he did. Ka-Zar noticed that before saying, "They are still here." just before a hail of laser bolts shot out from the treeline, kicking up dust. The group quickly scattered to avoid fire. "Kraven's returned," growled Ka-Zar.

"No, this is definitely not Kraven's work," said White Tiger, "Kraven doesn't burn down sections of forests and he doesn't set up ambushes like this."

Zira blinked, her eyes glowing green before she said, "10 of them in the trees in some sort of armor. They got laser rifles."

"Whoever they are, they've hurt the jungle," growled Ka-Zar.

Zira nodded. "Yeah, I like this place. It's lively," she said, before another hail of laser fire shot out, several troopers in full white endoskeletal armor coming into view, firing with deadly practice.

"Don't know who these guys are, but they've whacked the wrong weeds," said Zira before focusing her power on the ground. Large vines burst up and started thrashing in the air. "Now the weeds are gonna whack back," said Zira.

Several troopers yelled in shock as the vines tried to grab them, before a quadrupedal mech-bot came out behind them, a large cannon with a pilot light on top, before it fired at the vines, Zira screaming.

White Tiger snarled, her eyes glowing green as her amulet glowed brighter. She charged at the walking tank with a roar, claws outstretched. The mech staggered back, several scratches in the power armor, before, under its 'head' a twin-barreled laser turret aimed and began firing, a weak and desperate secondary defense.

White Tiger roared as she climbed up the mech's legs. Once on top, she started clawing at the mech's back, not even noticing when the gloves of her costume burst open to reveal bigger claws.

Two of the troopers did notice though, aiming and trying to fire, only for one of them to be pounced on by Zabu and another being flash frozen when Coldlahd flew through him.

Eventually, White Tiger ripped off the roof of the mech, obscuring its cannon from turning. A few pulls of circuitry caused the mech-bot to stagger and twitch before its legs gave way under it, the lights in its optics darkening. The remaining troopers began to back up at that, but not before one threw an orange canister under the mech.

"Ava, get out of there!" shouted Coldlahd.

White Tiger leapt up just as the mech exploded from the magma grenade, the magma solidifying rapidly. "Never seen White Tiger attack like that," said Ka-Zar.

The troopers backed up at that, one of them firing a stunner at Zabu and dragging his mate along, another being pounced on by Ava. "Get off, you crazy local!" snapped the trooper, the helmet coming off to show a human face with a cybernetic eye.

Ava just snarled and raised a clawed hand to slash off the trooper's face. Thankfully, a newly-grown vine grabbed Ava and pulled her away. The trooper breathed a sigh of relief before yelping as the other human grabbed him, his face shapeshifting to a draconic one.

"Why did you burn the jungle?" growled Ka-Zar, the blade on one gauntlet extending.

The splitter glared before spitting. "Suck an eggshell, humie," he hissed.

Ka-Zar growled before bringing his blade dangerously close to the splitter's eye. "Why did you burn the jungle?" repeated Ka-Zar.

"Yer tresspassin' on Executive Genetics property, Tarzan. And our gunships probably already headin' this way," the splitter sneered, a distant whine heard.

"The Savage Land belongs to no one!" snapped Ka-Zar.

"Stupid savage," sneered the splitter, "Completely incomprehensive about the concept of ownership."

Two dropships came into view at that, spotlights shining down. "This is E.G.I.S. You are trespassing on corporate territory. Lay down your weapons or we are authorized to turn you into mince," said a voice.

"I think we're out of our depth here," said Coldlahd.

The gunships' guns began to glow before a new voice was heard at that, "Captain, stand down at once."

The splitter glared, before taking a com unit off his belt. "The boss wants to talk to you," he said icily.

"Well, that's a relief," said Coldlahd.

"Can I put White Tiger down now?" asked Zira.

A hologram of a coyote woman appeared, her left and right arms and left leg cybernetic. "I wouldn't. She seems to be infected with mutagen X-R7. Lost three of my assistants to that plant. Hence why I sent in an incineration unit. Especially when I found out it can be passed on by pollen on the victim's hands."

"You have no right to hurt the jungle," growled Ka-Zar.

"I do if the research here can stop another Sy-Yong," said the coyote a little angrily, before taking a breath, "I think we've gotten off to a bad start. I'd like to invite you to my laboratory so I can explain more calmly why I am here. I assure you, hurting your ecosystem is the last thing on my mind."

Just then, the tiger amulet stopped glowing and White Tiger's eyes returned to normal. "Ok, why am I entangled in a giant grapevine?" she asked.

"Fascinating...first time I've seen someone resist the effects," said the doctor, one of the dropships landing, several troopers jumping out and aiming, not at them, but at the treeline. "My ship will fly you to the laboratory. I doubt you want to be out at night. The weather's been very strange as of late," said the doctor enthusiastically.

"Yes, the weather has changed. Gotten colder, nights lasting longer," said Ka-Zar.

The splitter snapped, "Yeah, so if you don't wanna _be_ cold, get on the damn dropship." pushing Ka-Zar back and stomping towards the ship.

"If we want to find the _Megamephitis_, I think we want to go with them," said Coldlahd, "Ready to go, Tiger?" However, White Tiger seemed to have passed out.

The splitter noticed before snapping "MEDIC!"

* * *

The two dropships flew low over the treeline as they approached a brand-new white tower, surrounded by a wall lined with defense guns, a small corvette landed inside. A sign in an alien language and in English read 'Executive Genetics, pharmaceutical research division. Head of Research: Dr Anika Karisa'

Zira and Coldlahd looked out a window. "That's a lot of security for a research facility," said Zira.

"Considering this is a primordial jungle, that's normal," said Coldlahd, "It's the private army that seems overkill."

This was confirmed as, as they watched a patrol returned, an honest-to-God tank leading them. "With the shit that Combine nutcase is researching, it's more to keep it contained," said the pilot as he began the descent, before looking back. "Your mate ok? I got a med team waiting down there," he said, looking at White Tiger.

She seemed to be ok, even if she was unconscious right now. Though the bigger concern was how her gloves had shredded completely, revealing hand-like paws with white fur and black stripes. If that weren't enough, her feet had also changed, shredding her boots as they became tiger paws.

"Oh, she picked the wrong flowers," laughed one of the troopers.

Snowbell snarled at him, which sounded a lot more intimidating with her deeper voice and bigger size. Two of the troopers aimed. "Keep the kitty in line or we see if it flies," snapped the pilot, more out of anger that his concentration was being interrupted, "If she threatens a crash..."

"Snowbell, easy girl," said Coldlahd, only for Snowbell to growl at her. However, Zabu made a chuffing sound, which seemed to have a better effect.

Snowbell glared, the pilot nodded. "Ok, we're landing in 10 secs. Your pets will be taken to the hydroponics garden. Plenty of space for them while you meet the doc."

"Zabu not pet, Zabu brother," said Ka-Zar.

"Your brother goes in hydroponics then," said the pilot nastily.

* * *

Dr. Karisa was pacing outside for the guests to arrive. She knew it was dangerous, but she got so restless when indoors for so long. She blamed it on her coyote DNA. She peered out the window to see the dropship landing. "About time," she muttered, practically running out to the hoverpad, in time for the pilot to be thrown out the ship, the locals getting off as a mediteam ran up to get their exposed member. "Hello, I'm Dr. Karisa. I'm sorry about the rather improper greeting you received," she said.

"You burnt the cure we needed," snapped Zira.

Dr. Karisa said, "No, I burnt a hostile mutagen. Our station was downwind."

She didn't blink as Ka-Zar headed for her. "You tried to destroy the Savage Land," growled Ka-Zar, drawing his knife and trying to stab her.

The knife, while it didn't stop, didn't get very far, stopping just past the clothing, metal glinting. The troopers aimed before the doctor grabbed Ka-Zar's arm. "My team's lives come first. We're still trying to find a cure for them," she snarled, her optic glowing red.

"What are you?" asked Ka-Zar.

"I'm a refugee. These are a...mandatory going away present from my old home," said Dr. Karisa, dropping Ka-Zar. "If we're all finished, I had my incendiary teams relocate the creatures. We were going to plant T-former beacons to regrow the forest tomorrow and move them back," she said calmly.

"You do know you're messing with an ecosystem," said Zira, "What's considered a weed to us would still be a vital part of the life cycle here."

"That's why we have T-formers and seeds. We're installing air filters for our suits and the main building so we won't have trouble again. But till then we had to stop the danger, not with the work being done here," said the doctor, walking towards the lab, pausing before looking at the two sabertooths intently before saying to the captain, "Let them tag along."

"Ma'am, we shouldn't let wild animals wander the premises," said one of the guards.

The doctor paused before glaring and growling at the guard. "Fine, you're on the next transport out. You're fired," she snapped.

"I'm liking her style," said Zira.

The guard just hung his head as two of his companions led him gently away. "I won't have intelligent animals treated like that," she said calmly, leading them in. "We do research here on cures for some of the multiverse nasty genetic mutagens and diseases," she said calmly as they were led past several labs, with robots working at chemistry consoles.

"You don't keep those mutagens and diseases here, do you?" asked Coldlahd.

"We have to keep samples on site. That's why the hot labs only have mechanoids working," said Dr. Karisa, adding, "It's adamantium crossed with local vibranium ore. Even a nuke won't pierce them and we can irradiate them in case of a dangerous breach."

"So what makes you look here of all places?" asked Zira.

"Rumors of a cure-all for mutagens, capable of repairing DNA. Stuff like that could have nipped the Sy-Yong disaster in the bud, saved millions since," said Karisa calmly.

"Right now, we're looking to cure just one kind of mutation," said Coldlahd.

"X-R7, yes. That one's trouble. We still haven't found the cure-all...though we did find several interesting antibiotics," said Dr. Karisa.

"Yeah, I'm sure they're very interesting byproducts," said Coldlahd dryly.

"They are, one of them cures petrification gas effects," said Dr. Karisa.

"Where did you take White Tiger?" asked Ka-Zar.

"Your friend? She's in medical bay 2, having that damn pollen washed off. Did she go near...this?" asked the doctor, making a hologram of a yellow flower appear.

Snowbell said, "Hey...that's the nice flower I saw."

"Savage wildflower," said Ka-Zar, "It brings out the beast in people, makes them part of the Savage Land."

"Yes, it's not a normal mutagen either," said Dr. Karisa, "People don't normally devolve into _panthera tigris tigris_ when exposed to it. I assume it possesses some form of magi energy which is interacting with her artifact."

Another doctor passing, said, "It could be related to the facility under the volcano. We did detect evidence of an old leak from a few millennia ago when we turned up."

"What facility under the volcano?" asked Zira before adding, "How can there be a facility under a volcano?"

"It's very old. I sent the second security division there. We think the weather malfunctions related to it," said Dr. Karisa.

"Er, speaking of the other facility," said the other doctor, "The security division there has just called in a code double red."

"Send Ringer 2 to see what's going on..." said Karisa, the other doctor hurrying off, "Your friend's rapidly deteriorating, though slower than I expected. Usually it's the space of a few seconds."

"She got the pollen off of Snowbell," said Zira, "And I hear she's got very great discipline."

"Nothing holds it forever. It's one of the nastiest mutagens I've ever seen, both in the Combine and the NSC," said Dr. Karisa, pausing, "Who's Snowbell?"

"Me," said Snowbell.

Dr. Karisa turned to look at her, before she ran to a button, an alarm wailing and a voice saying, "Biohazard alert...containment to corridor 12."

"Hey, she's not that dangerous. Well, more than a saber tooth tiger should be," said Coldlahd.

"She's covered in pollen from X-R7," snapped Dr. Karisa.

"Sorry for not having time to take a bath," said Snowbell with annoyance before she started licking her foreleg.

Karisa yelped at that. "No! You're ingesting it!" she snapped.

Snowbell started spitting at that. "Ugh, bleh!" she yelled before she started rubbing her tongue across the floor.

"Too late..." said Karisa, backing up as Snowbell's eyes went wide, her pupils going to pinpricks.

"So what happens now?" asked Kira.

Then Snowbell, all signs of higher thinking gone, roared. "Now it's open season," said Dr. Karisa. Snowbell was about to spring when Zira surged up into Kira and grabbed her. Snowbell roared, trying to claw Kira, who just headbutted her with just enough force to daze her.

"We need the _Megamephitis_," said Ka-Zar.

"The what? The skunks we're looking after till their biome regrows tomorrow?" said Karisa in confusion.

"Their glands hold the medicine," said Ka-Zar.

Dr. Karisa stared for a minute before sighing, "You gotta be kidding me. The only glands of note I know on those stinkbombs is...well..."

"Yes, there. Cure almost worse than disease," said Ka-Zar.

"You're telling me. We had to add an airlock to their habitat," said Karisa quietly.

"I hope you didn't make them use up all their spray," said Coldlahd.

"They're vicious. We had to seal the area. The stuffs minorly acidic...was burning seals," said Karisa, adding, "Second basement level, follow me. Control, call off hazmat response," the last part into the intercom.

"I'll...hold her...down..." grunted Kira, who was struggling with Snowbell.

Karisa walked over, her left mechanical hand sprouting a syringe, injecting her. "I had a sedative injector added to my finger," she said, as Snowbell slumped.

"What were you?" asked Ka-Zar.

"What do you mean? The cybernetics? The Combine prefer people to follow orders, not have consciences," said Karisa.

"No, you not... human," said Ka-Zar.

"There weren't humans on my world. The Combine conquered my universe centuries ago. They're all I've ever known..." said Karisa, sounding unhappy with the comment.

Coldlahd added, "She's a bioweapon chemist. She made weapons for them."

Karisa snarled, "I _did_ make them, past tense. I've spent the last 12 years trying to make medicine instead, save instead of take."

"Yeah, and how many of those medicines were for diseases you've made?" asked Coldlahd.

"All of them," said Karisa to herself quietly.

* * *

Meanwhile, the doctor was observing White Tiger, who was still unconscious. It was very remarkable how she was able to stave the mutagenic effect of the pollen for so long. But it was a slowly-losing battle as more feline features were becoming apparent, such as the tail and ears. And the jade amulet at her throat was glowing very brightly.

"Nurse, advise Dr. Karisa that I recommend she be moved to the secure habitat in Sub-Basement 1...and till then we get some E.G.I.S in here..." said the doctor in charge, one of the few humans on base that weren't E.G.I.S.

"Doctor, you know this is a magi energy situation," said the nurse.

"That just makes all the more unpredictable," said the doctor.

"I'll make the call, do-DOCTOR!" the nurse said, pointing at White Tiger who was twitching.

* * *

_White Tiger's mindscape was alot neater __than__ the Lynch siblings, not surprising given that she had to control the tiger amulet all day and night. At the moment though, it looked like it was shaking, vines growing through the windows._

_"I can hear you know," said Ava, "You're rattling the bars more than ever. But you're mistaken if you think I'm going to let you loose."_

_An angry roar was heard, the __mindscape__ vibrating and cracks appearing in the walls._

_"I've handled you at your strongest, you know," said White Tiger, "You think I didn't notice a difference when Dormammu tried to enslave me? It was more than just my costume that got an update. I know the amulet changed as well. You're as strong as you were when you took over Kraven, but I could still handle you. That's not going to change just because of a little flower dust."_

_The cracks grew bigger at that, a chunk of wall falling down._

_"You know, I really don't want you wrecking my space. How about we do this on your turf?" asked Ava._

_There was a flash of jade-colored light and suddenly Ava found herself on a snowy mountainside, a larger monastery not too far from there. "This...this is K'un-L'un," said Ava with surprise._

_There was a growl at that, from the snow behind her Ava turned around, not seeing anything. Suddenly, the snow surged up, forming into a tiger. It immediately shot forward, pinning her with its paws_

_"What are you? Who made the amulet? Why are you not still in K'un-L'un?" asked Ava._

_The tiger just snarled, before trying to swipe her, narrowly missing._

_Ava jumped backward and said, "There's more to you than a beast in a cage. You were put in the cage for a reason."_

_"Wannnt ouuut…" growled the tiger, before lunging again, managing a scratch this time._

_"So you do have a mind," said Ava._

_"Want...body...want...to...live." snapped the tiger._

_"Well I'm not just going to give you mine," said Ava._

_The tiger roared, the loud noise causing the mountain to rumble. Ava looked up to see an avalanche heading towards her, forming a roaring tiger's maw. But inside the maw was a green light._

_The tiger grinned at that, grabbing her in a bear hug to stop her moving out the way_

_However, that gaping maw did not look like icy death to Ava, it looked like a portal. "You've spent a long time trying to break into my head," said Ava, "Let's see how you like me in yours."_

_The tiger just grinned knowingly and growled "Our body..." before the avalanche hit..._

* * *

_The next thing Ava knew, she inside a cave. There was a light source coming from somewhere further down so she moved forward. There was something strange about the walls, but as it grew less dark, she could see they were made of solid jade._

_She got up, knowing better then to call 'hello' from her training. Her sixth sense however was screaming 'TROUBLE!' though. "Am I inside the amulet itself?" asked Ava._

_"I was...locked away. My body stripped after I lost my challenge to that lizard..." snarled a voice._

_"What lizard?" asked Ava. Just then, she walked into a larger, well-lit chamber where one wall was covered in many carvings that told a story._

_The first picture showed what could be passed as the same humanoid tiger she'd seen Kraven become, what were meant to be monks below him._

_The next picture showed the tiger man facing a dragon, though it didn't like an Asian dragon very much. It was large, black, and had more in common with a European dragon in shape, asides from the head fins and elongated tail._

_"They tried to take my right. They challenged me...and I lost. They imprisoned me...for your people to guard me..." snarled the voice, sounding closer._

_Ava noticed a very long line of people lining the bottom of the wall. On close inspection, she could see they were various versions of White Tiger across generations. Down at the end, she could see her grandfather, her father, and herself. Looking back at the first one, she also noticed that same White Tiger was accepting the amulet from a monk in another carving._

_"Your family imprisoned me...kept me from my rightful place as the protector of K'un-L'un," snarled the voice, now sounding like it was being said into her ear._

_"No, that's not right," said Ava, looking at the monk and the first White Tiger, "I don't think they were your jailors. I think they were your caretakers."_

_"Caretakers?!" roared the voice, "Am I some feeble old man who needs to be looked after? I am a beast, a celestial creature! Your family has kept me behind bars for millennia!"_

_A hybrid of a paw and a hand grabbed her wrist, seeming to melt into it. "And now...I have earnt the right to breathe again," snapped the tiger, his eyes glowing the color of jade._

* * *

The doctor was immediately alerted when White Tiger's heartbeat started to spike. The two new arrivals, two E.G.I.S troopers with stun sticks tensed up as the doctor ran over. "Someone get a sedative patch," he snapped.

White Tiger started to thrash on her bed, her costume ripping at parts to show more white fur and black stripes. "Doctor, get back!" snapped one of the guards, reaching for his sidearm.

Truthfully, with White Tiger's costume, it was a bit difficult to notice the difference between what was clothed and what was bared. Though easily the most notable change was when the bottom half of her mask ripped open to reveal a snarling tiger's muzzle filled with sharp teeth.

The two guards were already aiming when she pushed the doctor flying, getting up, firing as she got off the bed and the photon blasts, which should have punched neat holes straight through, only burnt a few tiny holes and bounced off.

The tigress only roared, the blasts clearly angering her more. Luckily for the doctor, it meant nobody paid attention as he reached the intercom. "Get a fireteam down here, no!" he snapped, before a hand grabbed him.

The tigress lifted up the doctor, holding him above her head. He expected her to bite out his neck, but instead she asked in a deep, guttural voice that didn't even sound female, "Where...am...I?"

"You're...in a medical bay...Miss Ava..." choked the doctor, his collar pulled tight, though he noticed the guards out cold, their guns shattered.

"Ava...no... I...am free...at last..." growled the tigress.

"The mutagen's...messing with your head...we can help you…" gasped the doctor, seeing out the corner of his eyes, shadows behind the wall, the fireteam he'd asked for.

"Don't...need...help..." growled the tigress.

"Yes...you...do..." gasped the doctor, before the door behind the tigress was kicked open, two troopers in armored hazmat running in, holding plasma rifles.

"Freeze, mutie!" snapped one of them. The tigress turned and snarled, her eyes glowing a bright green.

"Shoot her, you military lunkheads!" snapped the doctor, the troopers firing. However, whatever tiger magic or prehistoric mutagen was powering her made the tigress very resistant to injury. However, there was still concussive force behind the blasts.

The doctor, coughed as the troopers walked forward, several more coming in, one with a flamer unit. "What are you doing? Keep firing!" the doctor snapped as the first two troopers peered closely.

With a roar, both troopers were sent flying backwards. The others took aim and tried to fire, but as anyone would tell you, guns only beat martial arts at range, something the tigress proved with great efficiency, till again the doctor was all that was left.

"Listen, you're very sick right now," said the doctor nervously, "We can help you."

"I don't...want...help. Baekho will never be a prisoner again," snarled the tigress. The tigress around the room with a growl. "Enough with these walls," she growled, "I need to be free."

"You can't leave. You're ill. And God knows if you're contagious," snapped the doctor.

"And you intend to stop me?" asked the tigress, unsheathing her claws.

"Not me..." said the doctor, the tigress noting he was looking behind her, turning in time for a metal arm to knock her through the wall. The doctor gave a sigh of relief as the mech suit walked forward, its weapons trained on the hole in the wall it just made. "What are you waiting for, pilot? Incinerate her!" he snapped.

The mech stepping off the ledge of the hole and into the courtyard, one of the cargo flyers open its side with a dent where the mech's target had hit. The mech's optics swept the courtyard, scanning for the target's heat signature. A creak from the flyer confirmed, as the tigress pulled herself free, wiping her snout. "Stand down or face incineration under the Sy-Yong quarantine accord," called the pilot.

The tigress snarled but seemed less interested in the mech suit. She could tell that freedom was so close. "I say again, stand down or I will use lethal force," called the mech pilot, the autocannons on the arms making a clunk as they primed, the shoulder laser charging. The tigress ignored the mech as she bounded towards the wall.

A second later, the ledge she was aiming for exploded, the mech firing a few more shells. The tigress roared with frustration, throwing rubble from the destroyed ledge at the mech. The mech, for its credit took the rubble and continued to fire rapidly.

The tigress soon saw that if she wanted out, she'll need to deal with this thing first. With that, she charged at the mech, intending to break its legs. The blow she dealt would have broken any creature's knee. Instead, the mech took a step back and kicked out. The tigress was sent flying backwards and sent tumbling.

The mech walked forward, a second shoulder gun unfolding before a bola net shot out over her, the balls digging into the ground with a whirring noise and sticking. The tigress roared and thrashed, but she couldn't rip the net nor loosen it. The mech aimed its blaster arms at her at that while standing over her. "Tell the director we got this contained," said the pilot.

"The director is dealing with a related crisis right now," said the doctor.

"Well tell her that I got a psycho mutation out here," snapped the pilot.

"And she's dealing with a feral mutation in there," said the doctor.

* * *

Snowbell snapped angrily under Kira's grip as the group were led to a large lift, automated turrets aiming at it. "You're not just keeping prehistoric skunks here, are you?" asked Coldlahd.

"They seem to eat the plants, so we had to move some of the mutagen flowers down there," said Karisa, putting on a gasmask.

"They surely have a more varied diet that that," said Coldlahd.

"Yes...but they seem to have a liking to the plants," said Karisa, entering in a complicated code, before the lift opened up.

The savage wildflowers were kept in broad terrariums that were on the floor. The _Megamephitis_ were seen walking around the room. They resembled modern skunks almost identically, asides from the pointier face and the spikes on their back. "Huh, they kinda remind me of cousins of mine," said Coldlahd.

"It's the red eyes," said Kira, as one of the skunks glared at them, the lift lowering down and opening into a sealed corridor.

"Now we just need to catch one of the little stinkers," said Karisa unenthusiastically.

Kira smirked, "Oh please, that can't be that hard."

"Care to give it a try?" asked Karisa.

"Gladly. Zabu, hold down Snowbell for me," said Kira. Zabu growled before snarling at Snowbell as a warning, Kira letting go. "Ok, this should be easy," said Kira, reaching out for the nearest _Megamephitis_.

The skunks all paused before scattering with chittering noises, Kira lunging after them. Kira chased after them, but the little proto-skunks were surprisingly fast. And unlike their modern relatives, they didn't seem interested in spraying before fleeing.

"When should we help?" said Coldlahd

"I think we can wait a while," said Karisa, sounding amused.

"There is easier way to grab them," said Ka-Zar.

"Ah, ah, not yet," said Karisa.

Kira finally roared, before bashing her fists into the ground, causing most of the skunks to jump skywards.

"She does know that skunks only spray when they're scared, right?" asked Coldlahd.

Kira soundlessly, via the glass, was starting to tear up a tree to try and swat them. "Surprised they aren't though," Coldlahd added.

"What could be scarier than a gamma mutate chasing after them?" asked Karisa.

At that, Snowbell managed to push past Zabu, lunging at Kira with a roar, which caused all the skunks to get a bug-eyed look, before there what could only be politely described as a raspberry in stereo

Now, that much stench going off all at once was rather equivalent of being tear-gassed or maced. Everyone who wasn't wearing a gasmask was slumped on the ground in temporary olfactory-induced paralysis. Even Karisa's eyes were watering from the sheer overload of foulness.

When the smoke cleared, Snowbell was trying to desperately bury her head in the ground and Kira seemed to have grown a venus flytrap and was trying to convince it to eat her nose.

"I hope there's enough of this...medicine for your friend," said Karisa who was wiping at her eyes.

"That was medicine," said Ka-Zar, who seemed to be the only one unaffected.

"Are you not...bothered by this?" asked Karisa.

"No, I live here for a long time. You get used to it," said Ka-Zar.

Kira walked back holding a sullen Snowbell. "I think she's ok now," Kira said icily.

"Still...too...big..." gasped Coldlahd, barely able to breathe.

Snowbell said sullenly, "Don't wanna be small."

"The pollen's accelerated her maturation," said Karisa, "Strictly from a biological standpoint, there's nothing to cure."

"Chloe will not be a happy bunny," said Kira.

"She'll still like me," said Snowbell.

"Yes, but now you're not cuddle-sized," said Kira.

"More of me to love," said Snowbell.

Karisa paused as the biohazard alarm went off again a trooper on the PA snapping, "Fireteam 6...scramble to medbay."

"Now what?" asked Ka-Zar.

"The subject's attacked Dr. Vanko. Get a mech down there," snapped the voice, apparently forgetting he was on an open line.

"Don't hurt White Tiger," said Ka-Zar, "She can be cured."

"Those skunks have used up all their musk in one blast," said Karisa, "It will be hours before they're reloaded."

A boom was heard from above at that.

"There's still musk in the air," said Coldlahd.

"And how do you intend to get it to her?" asked Karisa.

"Carefully," said Coldlahd

* * *

Fortunately, E.G.I.S. was very used to transporting dangerous animals. Once the tigress has been bound, they were able to put her in a cage. That cage was now being taken to the terrarium.

Karisa left the lift to find such a cage. "Ok...what the hell happened? It was meant to be a normal checkup."

"The mutagen had a delay reaction, but something gave in," said Dr. Vanko, "This magi artifact has more power than we thought."

The tigress glared. "My prison..." she snarled, trying to bend the bars.

"Let's not waste time. We need that musk," said Karisa, "I doubt we'll be able to hold her long enough for the skunks to make more."

Coldlahd floated into range, looking a little green. "Ok...let me at her..." she said weakly, sounding like she was ready to throw up.

"Stand back," said Karisa, quickly backing away.

Coldlahd floated up to the tigress who glared before her cheeks bulged and she burped the same pink smoke in her face. The tigress was halfway through a roar before she started gagging on the awful stench. "It's no picnic for me either," said Coldlahd, "I'll be washing that out of my mouth for a week."

The tigress's snarling grew weaker as the fur and tail started to fade away, paws became hands and feet. The tiger's features left her face, though her upper half was still covered by what was left of her mask. Her costume had also been through the wringer, being rather scantily torn though at least covering the important parts.

"Get her out that damn cage NOW!" snapped Karisa, the troopers scrambling.

"Ugh...my head..." groaned White Tiger.

"Easy...you got exposed to X-R7 mutagen. It'll clear. That headache is basically your brain doing a system's check," said Karisa, helping her up.

"It wasn't just that..." said White Tiger, "I...I saw inside the amulet. The spirit inside...it's much more than I ever thought. I don't think my father or grandfather ever saw that side of it. I need to know..."

"You need to rest and recover," said Karisa, "You're in no condition to be charging off in search of answers, particularly in your state."

"What?" asked White Tiger before noticing her badly-damaged costume.

"I can get you a spare suit and have this sent down to the quartermaster to be nanolathed back together," said Karisa, nodding to a female trooper.

"This isn't just a costume," said White Tiger, hugging herself, "It's enchanted, it helped me get further control over the amulet."

"You're not going feral now," said Ka-Zar.

"Don't worry, the magic's there. All the nanites do is fill in the holes," said Karisa.

"Clothes get torn here all the time," said Ka-Zar, "Especially girl clothes. There's no point in getting upset."

"Easy for you to say, jungle man," muttered White Tiger.

"Women don't seem to wear sturdy clothes down for some reason," said Ka-Zar.

Dr. Karisa, however, was saying, "To think, those skunk farts are the cure-all I am looking for. Maybe from them being in proximity to the mutagen. This could be a godsend for the medical world."

"I'm not so sure if it'll work on _every_ mutagen," said Zira, "It's effective, but it might not be a panacea."

"With a few modifications to the active ingredient, it could even cure Sy-Yong syndrome," said Karisa to herself.

"I hope that doesn't mean you're planning on taking all the flowers and skunks," said Zira.

"Command base has one of the best genetic cloning facilities in the sector. We'll just need some blood samples," said Karisa, before looking at Ka-Zar, adding, "...with permission from the locals of course."

"The jungle can provide, but it can't be plundered," said Ka-Zar.

"Of course, just blood samples and seeds," said Karisa.

* * *

Not long after, White Tiger was back in her repaired uniform. She was sitting in the courtyard, not looking at the damage she had. She was looking at the Tiger Amulet she was holding in her hand.

She felt something rubbing against her side and saw Snowbell rubbing against her with a purr before she said, "Miss Tiger...is something wrong?"

"I thought I knew all there is to know about this amulet, but I guess there's a lot that not even my family knew," said White Tiger.

Snowbell looked at it, "It looks very old. It's probably not surprising."

"I thought I mastered the amulet's power, but apparently there's levels I haven't even tapped yet," said White Tiger, "I'm scared I won't be able to handle it."

Snowbell blinked before saying, "In my home, there are literal dragons, trolls, vampires, werewolves, elves, all sort of things. Coldlahd looked after me but I was still just a cub in big bad Skyrim. I had to learn how to do things that I should have learnt from mother and father. I pushed myself to the absolute limits and look at me now. I have friends and a weird family...and I'm alot smarter than other sabertooths on my homeworld. If I can do it, you can beat that nasty little kitty."

White Tiger smiled at Snowbell and said, "You're pretty mature for someone who just grew up."

"I know I am. And I hope Zabu notices too," said Snowbell with a purr.

"Ok, that's not something I need to know," said White Tiger.

A rumble was heard, the two looking up to see a dropship approaching, at the same time as the PA saying, "Medical team to pad one...incoming casualties."

"Where are they coming from?" asked White Tiger.

"I think it had something to do with that other facility," said Snowbell.

The dropship landed to let out a dozen or so troopers, many of them nursing wounds as medical bots shot out with hover-gurneys before a familiar draconic figure walked numbly off, as the bots came back out with a gurney...before several lizards, albeit more evolved-looking ones came off.

"Matt?" asked White Tiger with surprise.

* * *

Sauron smirked, walking with two guards towards Chloe's 'room'. She'd been feeding better. He knew very well that after the first taste, it was hard to quit...well his previous life had...

He paused at Chloe's door before knocking. "How is my bride-to-be feeling?" he asked.

"Leave...me...alone...I'm not...draining...anyone...else..." rasped a voice.

"I have a special treat for you though," said Sauron. With a gesture, his reptilians forward a cave filled with rather weak raptors. Obviously, they had been trying their luck with the wrong prey.

_"Ok...If we survive, we get a new alpha,"_ grumbled one of the raptors.

"No...more...food," hissed Chloe.

"Feeling stuffed, are we?" asked Sauron, "Trust me, that'll pass with time. I can barely remember feeling glutted."

"You...turning me...into a monster..." snapped Chloe.

"Others see a monster. I only see someone worthy of ruling the world at my side," said Sauron.

_"Can we go?"_ asked one of the raptors.

"Put them in the fridge," said Sauron to the reptilians.

There was a click at that. "Can't...so...hungry..." said Chloe's rasping voice inside it.

"I knew you'd come around. Hmm...we only really need one," said Sauron, most of the raptors looking at each other before pushing one of them forward. Sauron gave a small snort. "Hardly a meal," he said dismissively. The ex-alpha gave a sigh of relief until Sauron said, "But I suppose it will do as a snack."

The other raptors watched as their ex-leader was grabbed by arms that looked halfway to being Pteranodon arms. The ex-alpha gave a squawk before he was dragged out of sight. There was a glow before several crackles and tears

"Pace yourself, my dear," said Sauron, "You have several more courses left."

"I...feel so much better…" said Chloe's voice, the tone changed.

* * *

There's the second chapter of this exciting arc. We're covering some of the stuff that appeared the last time Spider-Man went down to the Savage Land, namely the devolving poison and the skunk used to cure it. We're also putting in some stuff that will appear in later chapters. White Tiger's amulet is definitely going to the focus of another chapter. But we've got plenty more chapters before that happens. Look for the next chapter tomorrow and please review.


	8. Return to the Savage Land, Part 3

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 8: Return to the Savage Land, Part 3**

"Hey there, true believers. Spider-Man here in the Savage Land. Last you might remember, I was following a flock of pterosaurs with Chris. Flock, is that the proper word? Is it more like swarm or pack or something? Anyways, turns out those pterosaurs are more than they seemed from a distance."

"Stop narrating," hissed Chris.

"Right, stealth mode," whispered Spider-Man.

The two peered out to see their quarry had landed in a clearing, several setting up a campfire.

From a distance, it had been easy to mistake them for pterosaurs. But with a closer look, they were obviously humanoid. "Huh, I didn't know Sauron had family," said Spider-Man.

Chris peered back before mouthing something. "Ok...they're still there..." he muttered, the pterodactyl people settling around the fore, singing some sort of song.

"Kinda feels like I'm watching an anthropology documentary," said Spider-Man.

"Yeah, nasty weapons. Those gloves, they got metal sown into the fingers. Instant wolverine claws," muttered Chris, watching some of the males taking said claws off.

"Ka-Zar has gauntlets like those, though I think his blades are made of stone," said Spider-Man.

"Yeah, doesn't mean some of the tribes have metallurgy..." muttered Chris before counting again, "Aw shit, two of em are missing."

"Maybe they've gone to fetch their meal," said Spider-Man. Just then, they both felt something tapping their shoulders.

Chris glanced backwards and said, "Yeah, I guess they did."

Spider-Man turned to see the two missing pterodactyls, their glove blades on. "Why do you stalk us?" asked one of them in a deadly calm voice.

"You, uh, resemble someone we know," said Spider-Man.

"You are outsiders. I do not think you know our clan," said the other one.

"You sure? Because you happen to resemble this one guy with hypnotic eyes and a power-draining touch..." started Spider-Man.

"Oh, him," said one of the pterodactyls with a roll of his eyes.

"You know him?" said Chris.

"A human, once, who messed with things an outsider should not have," said the first one.

"Sauron was human?" asked Spider-Man with surprise, "He certainly didn't seem very pro-mammal."

"He stole from us...and he got his wish to know our way..." said the second pterodactyl with a smirk.

"Sacred idol?" asked Chris.

"That is between us and him. The human is gone..." said the first one, before the second said "And we do not like spies..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're not spies," said Chris.

"You follow us from the shadows like an Aerian spy..." said the second one darkly.

"It seemed rude to just walk in while you were having dinner," said Spider-Man.

Chris said nervously, "Not the best time for smartass remarks." as the pterodactyl warriors' eyes narrowed in unison.

"Uh, we bring you offerings?" tried Spider-Man. The pterodactyls glared at that, Chris sliding his hand to a stunner.

Spider-Man frantically searched through his pockets before pulling out some protein bars. "Huh, forgot I had them," he said.

The pterodactyls paused at that, one of them taking the bars and sniffing it, before saying something to his fellow. "That earns you a meeting with our queen," said the second one finally.

"Oh, good," said Spider-Man, hoping he wouldn't have to come up with a bigger gift for the queen.

The warriors pushed the duo out into the clearing, the singing briefly stopping as the singers turned to look. "Uh, hi there," said Spider-Man awkwardly.

There were a few giggles from the younger ones, the others talking before one snapped, "Taevo, you were sent to deal with the spies."

"They had an offering," said one of the pterodactyls that had nabbed Chris and Spider-Man.

"They are Aerian spies," snapped the angry one, standing up.

Taevo snapped "They are safe by right of offering. The queen will decide their fate."

One of the younger ones said with glee, "Maybe a curse."

"Hey, maybe we'll get out of this with only shrunken heads," said Chris dryly.

"But they don't have to remove our heads to... oh," said Spider-Man.

* * *

Chris glared being allowed to fly in Wolf-Bat form, albeit with guards, Spider-Man being carried by another. "Ok, we need to be ready to fight when this goes wrong," he said into his com to Parker.

"Good thing I've been learning a thing or two about diplomacy from Triton," said Spider-Man.

"Triton? The fish guy who can't even pronounce 'spider' right?" asked Chris.

"Yeah, I've learned what not to do," said Spider-Man.

"Behold, mutate...Pteros," called Taevo at that, Chris squinting before the clouds cleared to show what could pass as an Incan city set into a small mountain.

"Wow, that's impressive," said Spider-Man, taking a photo with his phone.

Chris peered down to see the city was packed with these 'Pterons'. "Damn..." he muttered, Taevo leading them towards the pyramid sculpted out of the summit. "I feel like I'm in an Edward Rice Burroughs novel," said Chris.

"We do not mention his name..." said Taevo.

"So tell me about your...queen..." said Chris, getting sidetracked when he noticed a cannon installed on one tower that had a noticeable HYDRA logo on the side.

"The last attack by outsiders. Their technology has allowed us to defend our city from the Aerians," said Taevo calmly.

"Who are the Aerians?" asked Chris.

"Our enemies. They think they are entitled to our land because they have the technology of Atlantis," snapped Taevo darkly.

"You mean Attilan," said Spider-Man.

"No, Atlantis," said Taevo.

"Oh God, how did you last this long?" said Chris.

"I didn't know Atlantis has advanced technology," said Spider-Man, "But then, the only thing I know about it that tuna guy is from it."

The group landed at that, several ornamental-armored Pterons blocking the way before a lithe clearly female one walked out. "Taevo, when I received your message of Aerian spies, I did not expect mutates from the outside," she said calmly.

"It's a long, rather interesting story," said Spider-Man, "I'm not sure we can tell it all in one night."

The Pteron woman turned to look at Spider-Man. "I was not addressing you, human," she said calmly, her eyes glowing.

"We've found these outlanders spying on our camp," said Taevo.

"And their tribute?" said the woman.

"Uh, let me see what I have," said Spider-Man, looking in his pockets.

The Pteron walked forward at that, past Spider-Man before looking at an amulet around Chris's neck. "Well..." she said, pulling it loose to examine it.

"Hey, hands off," said Chris.

The Pteron raised an eye ridge at that. "Calm yourself. I am curious as to the magic on this."

"It's not very strong magic," said Chris, "It's mostly supposed to be a symbol. Of betrothal."

The woman smiled warmly at that before handing it back softly, "My congratulations then."

"Huh, I didn't know you and Chloe were engaged," said Spider-Man.

"Yeah, but now she's been carried off by the scaly, needle-nosed scavenger bird," said Chris.

The queen's smile faded. "Sauron..." she said.

"Yeah, he also kidnapped another friend of ours," said Spider-Man.

"He's more of an acquaintance to me," said Chris.

"Sauron has been...more trouble recently. Several of our numbers went vanishing...an entire town," said the queen calmly.

"That's believable," said Chris, "You haven't seen any lizard men around, have you?"

"Their clan is many leagues from our territory..." said the queen.

"Any new lizardmen, I think that would have been the proper question," said Chris.

"No..." said the queen.

"Well, we ought to be looking for our missing friends now," said Spider-Man.

"Missing? The Aerians probably took them," said the Pteron queen.

"Who the hell are the Aerians? We're kinda from out of town," said Chris in a bad mood.

"The Aerians are our old enemies," said the Pteron queen, "They think they rule the skies of the Savage Land just because their tech is more advanced than ours."

"Look...we just want who Sauron kidnapped," said Chris.

"It's not going to be that simple," said the Pteron queen, "He's built up a large army, thanks to his mind-control powers."

Spider-Man looked around before saying, "How do you know he's not mind-controlling your people?" The Pterons gave Spider-Man an annoyed look. "It's a legitimate question," said Spider-Man, "How can we tell when anyone's being mind-controlled?"

"You dare insult us?" snapped one of the guards, his claw going to a blade.

"Spider-Man, stop antagonizing the natives," said Chris.

"Yes, man of spiders. Antagonize me at your peril," said the queen calmly.

"Look, I'm not trying to insult anyone," said Spider-Man, "I mean, suppose I meet two Aerians, one has been mind-controlled, one hasn't. How would I be able to tell which is which and would that apply to everyone?"

"Aerians have wanted our destruction for centuries..." said Taevo calmly.

"That's not answering the question," said Spider-Man.

"Sauron's mind control stinks. We would know his victims from the smell," said the queen sagely.

"Ok, but what about us with a less-sensitive nose?" asked Spider-Man.

"Speak for yourself," said Chris, "My wolf nose was sharp enough as it was. Mixing me with vampire bat makes it almost unbearable at times. I think I can even feel heat with it."

"You will be safe in this city. I am...satisfied you are not spies for our enemies," said the queen at that.

"That's great. We are honored guests, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"Yes, you are...for the time being." said the queen calmly, looking at Chris. Chris felt rather uneasy under the queen's gaze. There was something about her that was creeping him out.

"Taevo will show you to your quarters. He was once an outsider. He will be best as your guide," said the queen.

"That's...nice..." said Spider-Man in a slightly worried tone.

The queen walked off, Taevo glaring. "You will come. The Savage Land has become more dangerous. The weather acts strange," he said, gesturing to follow.

"Strange how?" asked Spider-Man, glancing at the sky.

"Three of our warriors were frozen in seconds when the snow outside the land came," said Taevo.

"I thought dinosaurs and pterosaurs were warm-blooded," said Spider-Man.

"It's Antarctica out there," said Chris, "Unless you have a thick coat of blubber, you'll be frozen too."

"Yes, flash freezing is fatal to any living creature," said Taevo darkly.

"Depends on the species," said Chris, "But that's not important here."

"She said you were an outsider?" said Spider-Man before both of them shuddered as Taevo nodded.

"I once followed the Hydra in my old life."

"That explains the cannon," said Spider-Man.

"I do not miss my old life..." said Taevo, a little defensively, the trio arriving at a rather well set up room, luxurious furniture inside.

"This is rather nice," said Chris, "Does she always entertain guests this way?"

"Not usually. Outsiders usually join us for the crime of spying...and I am not convinced you are not spies. Only one human can be trusted and he has a Smilodon brother," said Taevo darkly.

"Ka-Zar, I know him," said Spider-Man, "We've trained together. We were actually trying to find him earlier."

"I hope for your sake that is true," said Taevo darkly.

Cydrael05/21/2018

"We shouldn't stay too long," said Chris, "We've got a lot of things to do."

"It's not safe to be out at night," said Taevo.

"I'm part bat. I think I can operate in the dark," said Chris.

"I mean the city. The queen did not say as such but many of our people are vanishing," said Taevo darkly, pausing to look over the window, "I know that the demon is responsible but the queen refuses to even suggest a rescue party."

"What is she suggesting?" asked Spider-Man.

"That we concentrate our efforts on preparing for the nest Aerian attack," said Taevo. Taevo paused before saying to Spider-Man, "You do not trust me."

"There aren't many trustful people in HYDRA," said Spider-Man.

"That was my old life. I know of it but that outsider no longer exists. Though I wonder...did we win the second great war?" said Taevo calmly.

"The Allies won that war," said Chris, "But you shouldn't have lived that long. I mean, I don't know the average lifespan of a dinosaur..."

"Pterosaur," said Spider-Man.

"Whichever. Neither should have lived that long," said Chris.

Taevo raised an eye ridge. "From what I know, this entire area is 'impossible'," he said.

Chris paused before saying, "Point taken."

"The Aerians aren't going to attack soon, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"They shouldn't, but lately they've been aggressive," said Taevo, "And my queen's answers always seem 'prepare for Aerian attack'. She should be-"

"Trying to settle this peacefully?" asked Spider-Man.

Taevo snorted and said, "More proactive. All we've been doing is waiting for them to attack and fend them off. We should be taking the battles to them. But then, we've less warriors now."

Chris nodded before pulling Spider-Man out of earshot of Taevo. "We got a redneck clan situation..." he muttered.

"You mean Hatfields and McCoys?" asked Spider-Man.

"Exactly. We'd have better luck turning off Earth's gravity then sorting this little feud out. We'd need a peacekeeper division," said Chris.

"I'm sure we can sort this out," said Spider-Man.

"Kid, blood feuds aren't something that can be solved by everyone sitting down at the table and some newcomer giving an inspiring speech that'll make them see the error of their ways. It takes a lot more diplomatic work than that. You're not going to get them to accept peace in one night," said Chris.

"The Pterons and Aerians have been at war since...forever," said Taevo.

"Right. I doubt anyone even remembers why they've started fighting in the first place. And no, asking them 'what are you fighting for' isn't the answer. Too much bad blood and pride to make them consider putting down arms," said Chris.

"The Aerians want our destruction or subjugation," said Taevo calmly.

"And the Aerians will doubtlessly say the same thing about the Pterons," said Chris, "There's nothing we can do right now to establish peace. What we need to focus on is finding the others and rescuing Chloe and Dr. Connors."

"We can't just leave them to fight like this," said Spider-Man.

Chris said, "Sometimes things are too broken."

"Surely everyone's getting tired of the war by now," said Spider-Man, "Has anyone tried talking with the other side?"

"The queen has talked about such things until last year," said Taevo.

"What happened?" asked Spider-Man, expecting something tragic. "Nothing. She just dropped all those thoughts and focused on preparing for attacks," said Taevo.

Chris paused at that. "Ok, that is a little weird. Nothing happened to make her drop it?"

"Anything at all?" asked Spider-Man, "Did the Aerians attack during a particular event? Did a loved one pass away?"

"No...now you say it, nothing occurred," said Taevo in confusion.

"And what does Sauron's brainwashing smell like?" asked Spider-Man.

"It...stinks," said Taevo a little lamely.

"And has your queen been wearing any perfumes or anything like that?" asked Spider-Man.

"It is not a physical smell, more a stink on one's mind. I am merely a soldier. I know not how to look for it," said Taevo.

"So Sauron could have mind-whammied the queen and no one would notice," said Chris flatly.

"He would not get past the royal guard," snapped Taevo.

"Unless he hypnotized the royal guard too," said Chris pointedly.

"Hah...impossible. He cannot control all of them. They are worth a hundred of him," laughed Taevo.

"He doesn't have to," said Spider-Man, "I'm no hypnotist, but I would think all he would have to do is get past enough of them to get to the queen and put her under his spell. Then he could leave and release his control on the guards and they'd never even know he was there."

Taevo raised an eye ridge, "You speak with the air of too much experience for one so young."

"I've dealt with more than a few hypnotists and brainwashers," said Spider-Man.

"And you can prove that our queen has been compromised? You must be sure," said Taevo.

"If she is under Sauron's control, I'm pretty sure she'll give herself away. Mostly by having us seized on trumped-up charges for something we didn't do," said Chris.

"Sauron and my queen are smarter than that," said Taevo, before there was a knock at the door.

"Spidey, is it trouble?" asked Chris.

Taevo opened the door to see one of the queen's servants. "Her majesty wishes the presence of him," she said pointing at Chris.

"You're getting pretty popular," said Spider-Man.

"It's the arm-wings," said Chris, "Probably the only attractive feature to them. Everything else is likely too mammalian for their taste."

"She was very insistent," said the servant nervously.

"Of course she is," said Chris in an annoyed tone.

"You had best go to her. She is not one to be kept waiting," said Taevo.

"Fine," said Chris before turning to Spider-Man and saying quietly, "I can count on you to do a rescue mission in case things get ugly, right?" Spider-Man nodded at that, Taevo rolling his eyes. Chris turned to the servant and said, "Ok, let's see the queen."

* * *

Spider-Man, however, decided to follow. Something about this seemed off. The Pterons, hospitable they may have seemed, didn't seem the sort to have a queen who randomly let newcomers stay at her palace...or suddenly randomly decide to prepare for war.

There was one bonus, the palace was clearly designed with easy access from the air in mind, meaning spider-man was able to follow Chris from the outside. He was all prepared to sneak past some guards, only to find there were none.

"Hmm, no guards. This would explain how Sauron would have been able to get so close to the queen," said Spider-Man. He swung over and peered down just as Chris was let into the room, the queen beside him.

* * *

"It must be a lonely life, being a bounty hunter," said the queen calmly.

"That's not what I would call myself," said Chris.

"You hunt lawbreakers for gold," said the queen smugly.

"Not nearly as often as you would think," said Chris is a slightly annoyed tone.

"My apologies," said the queen with a slight bow of her head, her eyes glowing golden.

"It's nothing to worry about," said Chris, "But I'm pretty sure you didn't invite me here to talk about it."

"I wanted to meet you in person..." said the queen, looking him in the eyes.

"You already did," said Chris with annoyance.

"Oh, please calm down," said the queen calmly, her voice echoing, Chris finding it hard to look away. "I think you need to relax," said the queen.

"Yeah...need to...relax..." muttered Chris, sounding drunk, his eyes getting a similar golden glow.

"Now, wouldn't you want to be a Pteron? I'm sure you'll make a fine king," said the queen.

"Thanks for the offer, but he's spoken for." The queen turned around only to get a face full of webbing. She snarled, trying to get the webbing off as Spider-Man swung in, grabbing Chris and swinging back out.

Chris blinked, the glow disappearing. "What just happened?" he asked.

"I don't think Sauron's hypno eyes are exclusive to him," said Spider-Man.

Chris shuddered. "I...think we need to go," he said weakly.

"Yeah, pretty sure we've outstayed our welcome," said Spider-Man.

* * *

Taevo was waiting for them at that. "What in the stars did you idiots do? The queen's told the guard to arrest you on sight," he snapped.

"I think she was the one who broke hospitality first," said Chris, "Considering she just tried to mind-control me."

Taevo's eyes narrowed. "You lie. What you claim is impossible," she snapped.

"Her eyes were glowing gold and everything," said Spider-Man, "I put webbing in them before she could do any real damage."

"Preposterous," said Taevo, "Only that leech, Sauron, has that power."

"Uh, just a moment, Sauron is basically a living vampire, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"I wouldn't use that phrase around Matt," said Chris.

"But vampirism is contagious, isn't it?" asked Spider-Man.

"Our queen? An energy vampire? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," scoffed Taevo.

"I've seen weirder. Been weirder too," said Chris thoughtfully, adding, "Of course, Matt left the solarite cannon at home."

"I don't think she's that kind of vampire," said Spider-Man, "But if Sauron did turn her, that might explain where the missing Pterons have gone."

Taevo glared before saying, "You cannot stay here. Follow me."

"Great, more flapping," said Chris flatly.

"I will guide you both to the edge of our territory. Then you are on your own," said Taevo irritably, grabbing Chris.

"Hope there's a good place to sleep there," grumbled Chris.

* * *

"How much further?" grumbled Chris, the trio heading across a grassy plain.

Taevo snarled to himself. "If you ask that _once more_…" he snapped, eye twitching.

"You Pterons have a lot of territory to cover," commented Spider-Man.

"We are one of the larger clans in the Savage Land," said Taevo proudly.

"Not an advantage in this case," said Spider-Man.

Taevo paused, taking a map out of his tunic, checking it. "Hmm...according to this we should already be in those damn birds' territory," he said, before blinking, an arrow sticking into the map, before he said calmly, "Oooookay…" He looked up to see a trio of armored men with bird wings above.

"The Aerians, I assume?" asked Chris.

"Drop your weapons!" snapped one of them, aiming.

"I have no weapons, you birdbrains," said Taevo scathingly, Spider-Man webbing his beak shut.

"What my friend means to say is that he was just escorting us after we got lost, right Chris?" he said quickly.

"Right. There are no road signs around here," said Chris, "In fact, there are no roads at all."

"Pteron spies..." said another one icily, the trio landing, "Come with us."

"I hope it's better than what we got in Pteros," said Spider-Man.

* * *

Sadly for the trio, their new room wasn't as nice, being a literal cage instead of a gilded one. "You had to jinx it," said Chris icily.

"Well, at least they're honest about how much they dislike us," said Spider-Man.

"I want to be tried separately," said Chris darkly.

"I should have stayed in Pteros," grumbled Taevo.

"And be next on the vampire queen's menu?" asked Spider-Man.

"Shut up in there. How are you working together? How do you function?!" snapped the guard, his eye twitching.

"Ah, go lay an egg," said Chris.

"How dare you? I'll-" began the guard, before two more walked down the stairs to the cell.

"Nero, enough. Lord M'Dom wishes to speak to them," snapped one of them.

"Well, that's progress," said Spider-Man.

"Yes...you could think of it like that," said the guard.

* * *

A white-feathered Aerian, a golden sword at his belt was looking at a map when the trio were brought in. "These are the spies?" he asked, not looking up.

"We're not spies," said Spider-Man.

"That's precisely what a spy would say," said the Aerian.

"If I may, they're not spies. They're just idiot outsiders," said Taevo calmly, looking at them. "I liked Chris's idea to be tried separately," he said icily.

"Why should we trust the word of a Pteron?" asked the Aerian.

"Because, really, do these two look like spies? A half-bat mutate and a human in a bright red and blue suit," said Taevo a little scathingly.

"I'm part werewolf, you know," snapped Chris.

"Oh, and whatever that is too," said Taevo.

The Aerian glared. "40 of my people vanished close to your lands. And with the rumors that your queen is manifesting the hated Sauron's abilities too..." he said angrily.

"Rumors that I fear could be founded," said Spider-Man, "Pterons have been disappearing too."

"Hmm...and what proof do you have?" the Aerian asked calmly.

Chris said, "She tried to mind whammy me and suck me dry."

"And/or make him into a Pteron," said Spider-Man, "It was a bit hard to tell."

"And who are you?" asked the Aerian.

"I'm Spider-Man. Maybe you know Ka-Zar," said Spider-Man.

"All of my people know Ka-Zar. He is a hero among my people," said the Aerian, sounding offended.

"Well, he's a good friend of mine," said Spider-Man, "We've trained together at SHIELD. He can vouch for me."

"If we knew where he was. He was last seen on the other end of the Savage Land," said the Aerian calmly.

"Just how big is this place?" asked Chris.

"The Savage Land is quite vast. It would take days for one to travel from one end to the other," said the Aerian calmly, shutting the door out of the room.

"Listen, your majesty or lordship or whatever your people call you," started Chris.

"Oh, we do not rely on an aristocracy," said the Aerian offhandedly, adding, "Just M'dom will do."

"Ok...M'dom, we think Sauron's taken over the Pteron queen," said Chris carefully.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before that happened," said M'dom, "How does that human phrase go? Ah, yes. What goes around, comes around."

"Our queen is nothing like that monster," snapped Taevo angrily.

"At least until Sauron gave her a taste for life energy," said Chris dryly.

"Enough, she has clearly had her mind clouded. She would never think of doing such a thing," snapped Taevo angrily.

"That would be more concerning," said M'dom, "From what I've heard, Sauron's particular form of vampirism is unique to himself. I theorize he may have latent mutant genes that were activated by his transformation. Such a thing shouldn't be easily transferable."

"Wait...how would you know that?" asked Chris suspiciously.

"I've been studying the various superpowered beings who live in this land and I try to make as many observations on superpowered visitors as I can as well," said M'dom, "Call it a hobby."

"Ok...weird hobby but I can't really talk," muttered Chris.

The door opened at that. "Sir, I must prote...what are you doing? Pterons are dangerous," snapped a red-crested Aerian, stomping in and backing up when he saw Taevo.

"This one is securely contained. In any case, this is more about information transfer," said M'dom.

"My lord, everyone knows that Pterons and their allies lie," snarled the Aerian, Chris grinning. It was rare he met someone he could truly not feel guilty about annoying.

"Sometimes hearing the lies helps one learn the truth," said M'Dom, "In any case, until the next election, I am still leader. And that kind of talk makes it unlikely for you to win." The Aerian glared and stomped off, leaving a small device behind as M'dom continued "So...you say your queen changed suddenly..."

"She was considering brokering peace with you," said Taevo, his tone having an artificial neutrality to it, "But then she became more introverted, more concerned about preparing for attacks and yet not planning to attack herself."

"Unusual, I know the queen from the negotiations. It is not like her to change so suddenly," said M'dom to himself, the device making a click and starting to open out like a spiny flower.

"Uh, that's not a solar power collector, is it?" asked Spider-Man.

M'dom turned to look at it in surprise. "I've never seen anything like this," he muttered, walking towards it as a yellow glow began to emit, yellow rings shooting up in a rhythm.

"I wouldn't get too close," said Spider-Man, "In fact, I wouldn't stand in front of it at all."

A glowing ball began to rise into the rings at that, M'dom's eyes widening. "Out! we must go!" he snapped.

"We're in a cage, Einstein," said Chris dryly.

M'dom ignored him, taking a crystal out of his robes and passing it over a rune next to the door, the rune flashing red. "He's locked us in," he said in shock, before hammering on the door, a rising whine heard from the device,

"Get down!" yelled Spider-Man, shooting a web blast at the device.

The orb flickered for a second before a burst of energy shot out, passing through M'dom's face before he could duck.

"Well, it didn't vaporize him," said Taevo, "So we can't be blamed for assassinating him."

The device itself closed, like nothing had happened as the three ran up, Chris picking it up. "Man, this thing's advanced. Way beyond NSC tech," he muttered.

"Alien?" asked Spider-Man.

"Yeah..." muttered Chris, before a groan got their attention, turning to see M'dom pulling himself up.

"He doesn't look too bad, considering," said Spider-Man.

M'dom's eyes shot open at that, the same color as Sauron's...and the Queen's. "How much you wanna bet your boss got a little disk in her room?" said Chris nervously to Taevo.

"Ok, we'll just have to keep him from sucking us dry and figuring out how he was infected," said Spider-Man.

M'dom smirked at that before calling, "GUARDS!"

Three webshots and M'dom was glued to the wall and gagged. "Ok, now what do we do with him before the guards get here?" asked Spider-Man.

Chris looked down at his wrist, a beeping inhibitor cuff which was all between him and him being the batfink in mind and body a day later. "I got a baaaad idea," he said, typing in the unlock code.

"How bad is it?" asked Spider-Man.

"Patch job bad," said Chris. He clicked it off without hesitation. "24 hours, then you web me up as tight as possible," he said to Spider-Man and Taevo, walking towards the struggling M'dom and clicking it on.

"What's that supposed to do?" asked Taevo.

"It inhibits brainwashing and mutations. Broad spectrum inhibitor," said Chris.

"And you couldn't have given it to my queen why?" snapped Taevo.

"First off, she was going to brainwash me and/or transform me," said Chris, "And no offense, but I do not want to be a pterosaur for life. And secondly, I didn't have time to think of it. And it's a stopgap measure anyway. These things need recharging."

M'dom groaned again. "My head..." he muttered, before noticing the inhibitor and looking at Chris. "Why am I webbed to the wall?" asked M'dom.

"You were about to try and drain our lifeforce." said Taevo calmly.

"What?" asked M'dom.

"Yeah, your assistant left this gift from Sauron," said Spider-Man, "And I mean 'gift' in the old Germanic 'poison' meaning."

M'dom's eyes narrowed as two guards smashed the door open. "Halt, these three saved my life. Find Governor Zeiro...NOW!" said M'dom. The guards exchanged confused looks before heading out. "I probably should have ordered them to get me down first," said M'dom.

Chris pulled out an energy blade and made a few slashes, the webbing slowly sliding loose. "Sauron's been playing you both. Why have two strong enemies when you can make them fight each other?" he said darkly.

"And keep each other busy while he's getting ready to take over the world," said Spider-Man.

"Yeah...and with the time dilation, by the time the NSC turn up to confiscate...whatever that is, it'd be way too late," said Chris.

M'dom examined the inhibitor and said, "This tech seems basic enough. We could produce more of it."

"Then I'd make more, alot more. And make sure to do it slow, NSC tech is booby trapped against reproduction by local civs," Chris warned.

"I see," said M'dom.

Chris glared "But I wanna talk to this Zeiro first."

* * *

Zeiro was smirking as the guards let the human in. "I will not betray my master..." he said smugly.

"Too bad we already know who that master is," said Spider-Man.

"So you should. Soon you'll bow before him," sneered Zeiro.

Chris said, "Kid, take a walk. I need to talk to this smegger alone."

Spider-Man walked out of the room as quickly as he could. "You think I'm going to be scared of a winged mutt?" sneered Zeiro.

Chris sighed. "I don't need this to scare you. I can do soooo many things that you'll beg to tell me everything you know," he said, pulling out a tape recorder.

"What are you going to do? Read bad poetry to me?" asked Zeiro.

"No. You see, my commander...he's unique. He's not just tone-deaf. He's somewhere…beyond tone-deaf, into the valley of audible pain beyond. The doc on the ship had to replace someone eardrums once," said Chris conversationally.

"That's a tall tale if I've ever heard one," said Zeiro.

Chris raised an eyebrow, before sealing his helmet and playing a few seconds, seeing in the silence. Zeiro's feathers stand on end like he'd been static shocked before turning it off and opening his helmet. "You were saying?" he said smugly

"I...I can take it..." said Zeiro weakly.

"Good, this tape's 45 minutes long," said Chris, resealing his helmet and hitting play...and _then_ putting the tape recorder on the table in front of Zeiro, _just_ out of reach.

Pretty soon, Zeiro was trying to reach with the tape recorder, with increasing desperation. "This can end any time...you just need to tell me what I want," said Chris happily.

Chris watched Zeiro screaming in anguish, all silent to him. Eventually, it occurred to him he won't be able to hear Zeiro's answer. He clicked the recorder off and opened his helmet. "Ready to talk?" he asked.

"MAKE IT STOP!" yelled Zeiro.

"I did," said Chris.

"WHAT?" yelled Zeiro.

Chris winced before writing 'You won't be deaf forever'. Chris then wrote down, 'Start talking or you'll be hearing it again when your hearing comes back'.

Zeiro gulped before saying, "Lord Sauron has some new device. He used it to corrupt the Pteron Queen. He'll control half the Savage Land before the rest of the council even realizes. I'd prefer to not be a meal."

"The same device you tried to use on M'dom?" asked Chris, writing that down as well.

Zeiro nodded. "It was his new bride's idea to turn M'dom. It seems it didn't work," he said, wincing as his ears popped and his hearing returned.

"What new bride?" demanded Chris.

"I do not know her name..." said Zeiro, before gagging as Chris picked him up by the throat.

"I asked you a question." snarled Chris

"She is...new to the Savage Land..." gasped Zeiro.

Chris's eyes narrowed. It didn't take much to add things up and as such he began squeezing, just as Spider-Man and Taevo came in.

"Chris, did you get any-" started Spider-Man before noticing Chris was about to snap Zeiro's neck. "Chris, stop!" yelled Spider-Man.

Chris just growled as Zeiro hit his arm weakly, before Taevo and Spider-Man pulled him off. "You're not going to get anything if you kill him," said Spider-Man.

"I'll get satisfaction. Sauron's turned my girlfriend and if I can't get Sauron for it, I'll settle for his underling," snarled Chris.

"Everything Sauron's done can be undone," said Taevo.

"Can you say that for certain?" snapped Chris.

"I've seen a lot of people come back from the brink. Or beyond it," said Spider-Man.

"Can you say that for certain? CAN YOU?" snarled Chris.

"Yes. I know someone whose will was supposed to have been erased, but he found a way to help me," said Spider-Man.

Chris glared at Zeiro. "You are so lucky..." he growled. Chris glared once more before he said "Urgh...all we can do is regroup with the others. I need an inhibitor soon," he snarled, before his wrist comp beeped with an incoming call. Chris answered his comm and snapped, "What is it?"

"Is this Captain Anderson?" asked a voice on the other end.

"Who is this?" snapped Chris.

The voice chuckled, "Dr Karina, E.G.I.S. I believe I have some people here from your team..."

Chris growled and said, "I don't have time for threats..."

"This isn't a threat," said Dr. Karina, "Your team has been helpful with a project."

"You'd better not have-" began Chris before Dr. Karina snapped "Can I speak to someone who isn't paranoid?"

"May I?" asked Spider-Man, taking the comm off of Chris, "Hello, this is your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

"Obviously you're not from here as this is not a friendly neighborhood," said Dr. Karina dryly. There was a pause before Dr Karina said, "I apologize. I have a friend of yours here. I'm sending coordinates. I believe I can help you..."

* * *

Sauron glared, walking through his palace. "She did what?" he snapped to an underling who flinched.

"Your, er, bride has commandeered the lab," said the underling.

"And what has she done in there...and why those aliens not stop her?" snapped Sauron.

The underling whimpered, "They let her in."

Sauron snarled. He had been hoping his bride would have ambition, but not this much. He smacked the underling aside before slamming open the door.

A female, brown-skinned Pteron was at one of the consoles, wearing a skimpy robe. "Sauron, dear, you're just in time," she said, not turning away from her work.

"I appreciate your initiative, but you should discuss your plans with me before working on them," growled Sauron as he walked towards her.

"There was no time. I saw an opportunity so I took it," said the Pteron, in Chloe's voice.

"No time? What is the big rush?" demanded Sauron.

"Why have the Pterons attack the Aerians under your control when you can control the Aerians as well?" said Chloe calmly.

"Because I need them occupied and not interfering with my plans," said Sauron.

"Oh, you worry too much," said Chloe, turning to look at him with a smile.

"I worry plenty enough," said Sauron, "There are too many in the Savage Land who do not accept my rule. It's easy to command my fellow dinosaurs, but the tribes are more difficult."

"Darling, we aren't dinosaurs," said Chloe calmly.

"Dinosaurs, pterosaurs, marine reptiles, we should be the masters of the world, not apes who were lucky enough to avoid extinction," snapped Sauron.

"No argument there. But wouldn't it be easier to turn them into us then fight them? They have alot more weapons," said Chloe.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Birds evolved from us," she pointed out, only to be ignored.

"The Aerians could have shared their tech, but did they? They're not to be trusted. They're just mammals with wings as far as I'm concerned," snapped Sauron.

"Which is why I am making these disks. They'll devolve them _into_ us...without a single loss," said Chloe, picking up one of the devolver disks.

"I did not ask you for another plan. We are still doing mine," snapped Sauron.

"But my love..." began Chloe only for Sauron to slap the disk out her claws.

"I said we are sticking with my plan..." snarled Sauron, his eyes glowing.

"This could improve your plan," said Chloe.

"Did I say my plan needed improving?" snapped Sauron.

Chloe glared before saying "No, but-"

Only for Sauron to snap, "Then we stick to my plan..." before he smiled "Don't worry. There's still Dr. Connors' assistant to play with."

"Now that you mentioned him..." said Chloe.

"Consider it a present, my love," said Sauron.

"I hope you don't mind that I've already opened my gift," said Chloe.

Sauron paused before saying, "What did you do?"

Chloe smirked, "You don't think I didn't test my little toys first..."

Sauron, despite himself, smirked as well. "So, what did you turn him into?" asked Sauron.

"Well, considering his surname was Stegron..." said Chloe dryly.

Sauron paused, before starting to laugh, Chloe joining him, their chilling laughter echoing through the palace...

* * *

There's another chapter. This one goes a little off the beaten path in that it features some characters from the comics most people wouldn't likely know about. But the Aerians and Pterons are characters from the Ka-Zar comics. The next chapter may go even further away from usual Savage Land stuff. It'll be up tomorrow so keep an eye out for it. Please review.


	9. Return to the Savage Land, Part 4

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 9: Return to the ****Savage Land, Part 4**

"Hey, true believers. You might be wondering what your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is doing back in the Savage Land, a place that's overflowing with dinosaurs, deadly plants, and bugs with a taste for humans. Well, to make a long story short, Dr. Connors was kidnapped by Sauron and we followed him here to get him back. But we've run into a lot of unexpected things, like space lizards, pharmacists from another galaxy, and two warring races of pterosaurs and birds. And I don't even know what's happened with Matt yet."

* * *

Matt glared as he walked through the ship. They'd let him use the computer, which had allowed him to fill in the blanks. "Least I know where the New York hive went," he muttered, before jumping as a female voice said "BOO!" in a cheerful voice.

Matt found himself clinging to the ceiling, shaking a little. He paused before looking at his hand. "Huh, gecko pads. Neat," he muttered. He tried to let go before finding, to his disappointment, his claws had done most of the gripping...which was found out faster as the roof panel decided to follow him down. "Ow," he rasped from under it before the female pulled it off, her name tag saying Lana.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," he was saying rapidly, helping a dazed Matt up.

"This isn't a good time to be testing my nerve tension," said Matt.

"Ok...Captain Ling says we might have a lead on what's messing with the weather," said Lana.

"Cold spots, right?" asked Matt.

"Flash freezes. Something didn't just let the arctic in. In one place, it shot it to absolute zero," said Lana, showing a picture of, at first, seemed like dinosaur statues in the snow...till he realized they were actual dinosaurs, flash frozen before they could flee.

"There's also the artificial day cycle," said Lana, "We've been having flashes of nighttime during the day. It's messing up the sleep cycles for a lot of animals."

"Meaning there's some sort of generator and it's damaged," muttered Matt.

Lana nodded, "Ling went over the black box. Sensors said we hit something on the way down...hard."

"Well, that would make sense," said Matt, "Volcanic thermal spot or not, this place wouldn't be able to support this much life with the six-month nights in the rest of Antarctica. That something must control the climate here, keeping it like the Mesozoic era's equator."

"And I think I found it," said a male voice, Matt turning to see the bulky reptillain, Ling. "A vast power spike before the flash freeze and other anomalies. Right on the volcano's doorstep," he said, adding calmly, "We're going to go in with the last of our engineers, try and get it working again before it kills everyone."

"Great, all we have to do is walk through the jungle of doubt, the valley of fear, and challenge whatever's guarding the place," said Matt sarcastically.

"One of our shuttles can park us right in front of the facility," said Ling icily.

"Oh, that saves us on the hike," said Matt.

"Yes, I assume you are a good flyer so you'll be our driver," said Ling, shoving a helmet into Matt's claws.

"Of course I am. Who told you otherwise? My sister?" asked Matt.

"Who is your sister by the way? Merchant's guild? Spacefarer guild like you?" said Ling curiously. He'd been fishing for Matt's role since he'd been healing...and Matt knew as soon as he realised who Matt was, he'd snap Matt in two over his knee.

"You wouldn't know her," said Matt, "She changes jobs just to keep away from me."

"Why is that?" asked Ling.

"Because apparently just being near her brings her an unwanted plethora of stress and embarrassment," said Matt.

"I can believe that," said Ling.

Matt looked suspiciously at the armor. It looked dragonlike if you looked at it right, it was definitely streamlined. "What's this?" he asked.

Ling smirked. "Must be a very old ship not to have a pilot tether suit," he said.

Matt felt a little uneasy by the name of the suit. It sounded like he'd have to pilot it from the outside. He jumped as an organic noise, turning to see some sort of bio-organic metal covering Lana, flowing for an organic-looking trio of syringes on a bracelet before there was hardly a join, the featureless face turning to look at him and Lana's voice saying cheerfully. "What?" hands on her hips.

"Uh, it brings out your hips," said Matt.

"Aw, cutie." said Lana, Matt finally noticing a slight change to her voice.

"Right, uh, I probably ought to be getting ready," said Matt. Matt nodded, turning and walking into the suited-up Ling...well...looked up at him. "Mother," Matt squeaked to himself.

"Don't think I haven't noticed what's going on," said Ling.

"Noticed what?" yelped Matt nervously. _'Here it comes. Goodbye cruel multiverse. I hope I give him heartburn,'_ he thought.

"The way you're pulling at that poor girl's heartstrings," said Ling.

"Pulling? I'm not pulling at anything. I didn't even wanna be here," yelped Matt.

Ling's 'helmet' flowed away in a very...symbiote way revealing the reptile behind the suit before he sniffed. "Is that why you've used 30 gallons on cold showers these last few days?" he said in amusement.

"I happen to like cold showers," said Matt.

"Pull another one," said Ling dismissively, "You shouldn't be toying with her like that."

Matt gulped. He had been getting...feelings for her and he knew what that meant: the infected virus was at work again. "I have someone else, waiting for me at home," he finally said, another half-truth to cover his identity. Sometimes thinking of Kala was all that was keeping him from snapping.

"Then why haven't you told her?" asked Ling.

"I'm pretty sure I've already have," said Matt.

"Ah, a sore subject. My apologies," said Ling, before saying, "Go, suit up, we leave shortly...and either let my daughter down gently or choose her."

"She...you..." stuttered Matt, his brain not quite keeping up.

"Just report to the launch bay," snapped Ling.

Matt jumped to attention till Ling was gone, Matt looked down at the helmet. "Urgh...I'm gonna regret this," he said, slipping it on before yelping as the helmet shrunk to be neck tight. "Too tight, too tight!" yelped Matt, worried he was about to be strangled by his own helmet.

Suddenly, a slithering feeling was felt over his scales, Matt looking down to see the same material, in blue, flowing down his arms, a faint sizzle indicating it was burning his clothes away. "Well, that's gonna make things a little awkward later," said Matt. To his relief, the armor still felt like clothing, before two sharp pains were felt at his shoulders.

"Hey, leave those wings allow," said Matt, "I don't want to relearn how to fly again." He growled at that, looking back to see the same sludge covering his wings, sharpening them as well before he started to get a thinner frame too. "This better not mess up my flying when I turn back," muttered Matt.

It seemed to be winding down, a final tingling in his brain felt, new knowledge flowing in, about how to pilot any ship, the presence pausing before repeating the safe landing procedures a few times... "You sound just like my flight instructor," said Matt in an annoyed tone.

There was a sting at that, senses of duty, visions of a planet he'd certainly never been too but he assumed was Lana's homeworld before pictures of Lana, her smiling kindly at him. "I don't need to know that. Really, I don't need that," grumbled Matt.

The presence didn't seem to care, pushing the memories in harder, till Matt was forced to his hands and knees...and it stopped. Korono blinked, he'd sue the spacefarer guild for this mess. "This better not too long," said Korono, "The prehistoric pizazz is really wearing off."

* * *

The small shuttle was shaped like a manta, skimming silently over the trees. "Impressive thing...handles like a dream," said Korono, sat in the pilot's seat. The view was soon soured when several large mosquitoes and dragonflies splattered on the windshield.

"Easy, kid," laughed one of the troopers from the back, wearing the same tether suit as Ling, Lana walking in and sitting in the co-pilot's seat.

"So, least you're a good pilot. Tether suit woulda rejected you otherwise," she said cheerfully, her helmet peeled away.

"Why is that always a surprise for everyone?" asked Korono, slightly annoyed.

"Tether suits aren't usually used in the guilds," said Lana, leaning into his shoulder, "These suits come with a lot of features: enhanced strength, sharper response times..."

"Yeah...I kinda prefer my own abilities," said Korono, steering past a flock of pterodactyls, keeping his eyes on the 'road'.

"Everyone could use some improvement," said Ling in a meaningful tone.

Korono glared and shut the cockpit door. "Lana...I...I know it seems I've shown interest," began Korono, delving into his memories and finding gaps, important ones but gaps.

"But...?" asked Lana.

"I...I can;t remember," said Korono, a few flashes seen.

"Then calm down. Dad's a good judge of a person," said Lana.

"But I know I'm forgetting something important," said Korono.

"If it was, you wouldn't have forgotten it," said Lana kindly

"I don't believe that. I just feel like something's glossed over the important stuff," said Korono.

"Maybe it's just fate's way of saying you need to let go," said Lana.

"Maybe I..." began Korono.

* * *

_ "Shit! Everyone, we're landing here. Don't get up," he yelled, hitting the eject buttons, each seat sealing into a pod around blurred figures before dropping through the bottom of the ship he was on. He turned back to see several craft shooting past him. "Dammit," he muttered, steering to the side._

* * *

"Korono? Korono? FATHER!" called Lana, before Korono, a blank look on his face banked hard.

"What is going on here?" snapped Ling, getting halfway through the doorway before he was thrown to the side.

"Something's wrong with him!" snapped Lana, shaking Korono again, "Korono, wake up."

* * *

_"That's most of them..." muttered Matt, looking down to see a group under fire. "One more thing," he muttered, steering his ship into a strafing run..._

* * *

"By the ancestors, he's put us in a death dive" snapped one of Lings men.

"Perfect time for a PTSD fit," snarled Ling, "Get him away from the controls!"

Lana tried to pry Korono's hands loose only for him to turn to look at , two glowing white eyes before she was backhanded into the others knocking them down.

"If he doesn't snap out of it, he'll nosedive straight into the ground," snapped Ling, "Get him away from the controls, disable them, do something!"

"Too late! Brace!" yelled another trooper.

* * *

The ship curved up, but its wings clipped the tree's spinning it and sending it into a roll across the ground before sliding to a slow stop. There was a long moment of silent which was ended when Ling said, "Lana, if you really think this Korono is mating material, then you are overdue a head examination."

Lana checked. "It's the suit. It registered huge cerebral trauma, mental trauma. It tried to heal him with a memory reply," she said in a low voice, looking at her own suit's readings, "Damn...faulty crap, get it off him."

"Not me," said one of the Navaki, "He'll throw me through a wall."

Lana sighed and said, "Find I'll do it."

The suit gently melted away, to show a winged reptilian, Ling's eyes widening before he aimed his left arm, which terminated in a plasma blaster. "Lana, move away," he snapped.

"Father, I can explain," said Lana.

"Explain what? That's the Banisher, bane of all Navaki," snapped Ling, his men aiming too.

"Do you really think the Banisher would be this..." started Lana, pausing as she tried to find the right word.

"Underwhelming?" suggested one of the Navaki.

"Well I would have chosen another word," blushed Lana, Ling sighing and covering his face.

"Lana, please tell me you didn't know he was the Banisher before you had your crush," said Ling.

"I plead the 5th," said Lana, Ling's men sniggering.

"I'm not sure whether this shows appallingly bad taste or suicidal lack of fear," said Ling.

"He's fine. He was a perfect gentleman," said Lana defensively.

"He is the Banisher," said Ling, "You were flirting with destruction incarnate itself."

"FATHER!" snapped Lana in such a tone even Ling tensed up. "You told me that the Banisher was a load of shtako and that actions make the Navaki...and if you kill him, I'll never speak to you again," she snapped, pointing her snout in the air in a huff.

"You really think that old threat will work on me?" asked Ling hotly. There was a long pause before he said irritably, "I hate it when you use 'never speaking to you again' threat."

"He's perfectly harmless," said Lana, checking Korono's pulse and scanning him. "But he's out cold and before anyone suggests we should leave him behind...having a god at our backs might help," she teased.

"He probably could destroy anything that tries to kill us," said one Navaki.

"Then it's agreed," said Lana smugly.

"Fine, but you're not the one who'll be carrying him," said Ling.

"Why not?" asked Lana, offended.

"For starters, he hasn't got a stitch of material on him," said Ling.

Lana made an 'Eeep' noise and turned the tether suit back on at that, turning off its VI after a second or two.

"Secondly, you're not to be anywhere near him until I can assess his intentions myself," said Ling.

"Sir, if I may, we don't have time. These surges are getting worse," said one of the troopers.

"And we're going to have to walk the rest of the way," said Ling, giving the unconscious Korono an annoyed look.

"Then we should stop arguing," smiled Lana

* * *

The trek to the Climate Control Center was not a safe one, though what was a safe path through the Savage Land? Though the Navaki were a little on edge when they passed close to Sauron's keep.

"Ok, we go silent. We did scans from orbit on that place. We'll be swarmed," Ling muttered.

One guard was dragging Korono along on a makeshift drag stretcher, before said guard suggested "We could use this dead weight as a distraction."

"Father..." said Lana warningly.

"Private, you're on guard duty for a few weeks," warned Ling, a few grumbles heard before an explosion made them all jump.

"What was that?" asked a Navaki.

"Sounds like Sauron's engaged in battle," said Ling, "Which means he'll be too occupied to notice us."

"Must be some battle," said the Navaki.

* * *

It was a rather big battle, a battle of dominance. Though not the kind they were probably thinking of. "I don't care if you are to be my queen, you ask my permission before you start redecorating!" snapped Sauron.

"This place is primitive. I found a solar generator in the lab and repurposed a monitor to get TV...so what?" snapped Chloe, her claws crackling.

"This is my lair! I had it just the way I liked it!" snapped Sauron.

"And this is my room. Am I to be some trophy queen?" snapped Chloe.

"You are to ask my permission for any changes!" snapped Sauron.

"I'll decorate my room how I like," sulked Chloe.

"Only if it meets my approval," snapped Sauron.

"NO! MY ROOM, MY RULES!" snapped Chloe, an arc of lightning from her hitting the generator which began glowing. "Uh oh," said Chloe.

* * *

There was one more explosion before things went silent.

* * *

It was a sign they were getting closer when the pools they were passing had steam rising out of them. "Heat's rising...feels like home," said one of the Navaki troopers cheerfully.

"I could certain use a warm bath," said Lana.

"You have a patient," said Ling coldly, the group walking through a path of rocks, before realising the wildlife had gone silent.

"The animals don't avoid the hot springs, do they?" asked Lana.

"No..." said a guard before going limp, a primitive axe in his back. After a few seconds, the guard said, "That's going to cause an annoying ache tomorrow."

The troopers turned to see several anthro raptors howling at them from cover. It was strange...usually primitives like these would charge.

"What's got them in an uproar?" asked one Navaki.

"Besides us?" asked another.

A second later, a strafe of blue bolts incinerated the raptors, several hovercrafts shooting overhead. "Them?" suggested Lana

The hovercraft looked Chitauri, but as they came down to land, it was clear that the riders were more Navaki. The ones that were the reason they were here in the first place. "Of all the times to run into those religious nutcases," grumbled Ling.

"Captain Ling, the priests have told us to give you a chance to make the right decision," called their leader, walking towards the group.

"And what do you throwbacks want?" asked Lana.

"What the scriptures say," said the trooper. Lana noticing Korono twitching at that, as the traitor continued, "These...apes should be part of our family or serving us."

"That became forbidden for a reason," said Ling.

"Why? The Nova Corp? Weak, a simple drop of our blood in their water and they'd join us," laughed one of the traitors, Korono twitching again, his hands forming into fists.

"We have evolved to be greater than a plague," said Ling.

"Is that your last answer, sir?" said the traiitor, the last word sarcastically.

"Well, actually, I wanted to share a history lesson with you," said Ling.

Lana hissed, "Father, what are you doing?"

"Using their own superstitions against them," whispered Ling.

"KILL THEM!" snapped the traitor leader, a hail of plasma fire shooting out, the guards yelling "RETURN FIRE!" firing back, though one was almost turned to ribbons immediately, another losing his head to a lucky shot.

"Their DNA may be primitive, but their weapons aren't," said Lana.

The last of Ling's men was torn to pieces, before the fire stopped. "Is that all you have, Ling?" laughed a voice before it said, "Well, if you won't turn, maybe your daughter will?" A laser sighted on Lana's arm before a nasty spiked dart hit her.

"I'm already Navaki, you taildraggers," called Lana.

"Oh, this is special. It shows us the light," said a voice, before Lana felt her blood start to burn, spreading out from the dart. Lana gripped her arm, prepared to rip it off to prevent the spread of infection. But she couldn't make her muscles obey, mostly because they were burning with agony. She screamed as the pain grew too high.

Korono's eyes almost immediately shot open, sitting upright. Ling, on reflex, aimed at him before stiffening up. He wasn't a believer in the Banisher...but the concept still terrified him. The 'Banisher' got up calmly, his form shifting to a winged reptilian, more streamlined than a Navaki, his bracelet glowing before opaque crystal armor formed over him before the glowing helmet turned to look at Ling. "Who caused that?" it said in a dark deep voice.

"Those cultists," said Ling, pointing towards the sect troopers.

"Ok...I'm going to kill them. Is that ok?" said the figure darkly, his wings flapping in apparent frustration.

"Be swift about it," said Ling, stepping back.

The figure turned to look at the shaking Lana. "Restrain her if you have sense. I'm not in the mood for swift."

* * *

"Be ready to welcome our new sister when she emerges," snapped the priest leading the group, a crackle heard as a figure jumped onto the boulder being used as cover.

"Hey, I think that's he-" began one guiard before a blue beam passed over him, a few faint wisps seen as the beam ended. The guard wasn't concerned. He should...heal...swiftly... However, when the mist faded, all that remained was a puddle of melted gun.

"My lord?" said one guard nervously as the figure spread a pair of batlike wings and jumped down, walking towards them.

"I'm warning you now. I've had a bad day...and a worse week and I really hoped after the scythe thing I'd never see you guys again," it said darkly, its claws glowing blue.

"It cannot be," said the priest in fear and awe.

"Why do you always come back? Do I have a big neon sign on me that says, 'Piss Matt Off'?" snapped the figure.

"Open fire!" yelled the priest in a panic.

Ther guards complied, a hail of blue plasma bolts shooting out, only for the blasts to hover in place around him. "Oh...it's so nice to meet people idiotic enough to shoot me with cake," laughed the figure, a few shots that hit him being absorbed like water into a sponge. "Ok...who darted the nice medic?" it said, ignoring the continued fire as he scanned the crowd before focussing on the rifle in the priest's hand. "Oooooh...naughty," he smirked...well the helmet did. "Let's see how you like it when your victims fire back," said the figure before his hands started glowing blue.

The Navaki began firing rapidly, more shots missing before the figure charged into their midst, his glowing claws slicing them apart like hot knives through butter. While Navaki could regenerate quickly from wounds, the slices were superheated by plasma, burning away the cells before they could regenerate.

Ling looked up from his suffering daughter to stare in horror. It was some sickening dance, one known only to the attacker. The traitors would try to fight back but the Banisher never seemed to be where they wanted and always where he needed to be. The battle was quick, deadly and efficient.

Korono blasted the remains with fire plasma to make sure they burned. "They're not coming back," said Korono, "Now how do we treat Lana?"

"I don't know. It must be how the priests turned most of the crew," said Ling warily, backing up as Korono pushed some runes on his armor, the helmet's eyes bathing her in light.

"She's infected," he said finally.

"With the old strain," growled Ling, "Those throwbacks want to drag us all to the same savage level as them."

Korono turned the featureless helmet to look at him. "I might have a way...a kill or cure..."

Ling snarled but he said, "Killing would be a mercy than letting her become one of them. But it had better cure her."

Korono nodded before taking a syringe from Lana's gear and drawing some blood, before injecting Lana's arm.

"You might want to stand back," said Korono, "Whatever is going to happen, it'll be explosive."

Lana's eyes shot open at that, arching her back and screaming. Smoke started coming out of her body as glowing cracks appeared in her skin.

Ling glared, grabbing Korono. "You've killed her" he snarled, aiming a slash.

"She's not dead yet," said Korono, "It's literally burning out her infection right now."

Ling glared behind him before snapping, "No it's not", pulling Korono to look to see Lana's horns growing longer.

"Ok, that's a new twist," said Korono.

Lana's screams however had turned to a few moans...clearly it wasn't painful. "Let's go talk behind the boulder," said Korono with manic cheerfulness, pulling Ling along.

"What is your blood doing to my daughter?" demanded Ling.

"She's getting wings I think," said Korono calmly.

"As in..." started Ling.

"Yep, literal wings. And I'm not certain if her suit can withstand them," said Korono.

The two exchanged looks at that before an organic ripping was heard, followed by the same organic noise the tether suits made when covering. "Her suit's repair, idiot," snapped Ling.

"Oh, that's a relief," said Korono.

"It won't even be my daughter..." snapped Ling, a shadow with wings seen coming round the side of the boulder.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," said Matt, "Just because she has new limbs doesn't make her any different."

Father? I feel weird..." said Lana's voice.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," said Ling, "It might take some adjusting, but you'll be fine."

"I know...I feel wonderful," said Lana walking into view, Korono gulping. Her scales had turned a sky blue, some small blobs of water orbiting her, her tether suit missing its lower chest and her leggings shorter, the helmet gone.

"Well, you're acclimating very well. Though I wouldn't have guess to be your-" started Korono before he suddenly found himself leaning very far back, only being held off the ground by Lana. "Element?" finished Korono nervously. "Is there a problem?" he said managing to keep his voice steady.

"Only that I'm the one making the first move," purred Lana.

"Hey, easy, I'm spoken for. Though she has a height issue at the moment," said Korono nervously.

"Lana, this is not going to get you my blessing," said Ling with annoyance.

"Father, shut up," said Lana, not looking before with a wave of her hand, Ling had his head in a water bubble. Korono looked at her, noticing her eyes had a red tint before his eyes narrowed and he said in Avalarian, _"Hands off her."_

_"Why should I?"_ asked Lana in Avalarian.

Korono glared, pulling out a small dart and shoving it into her bare midriff. _"Cause I always keep mental poison on me,"_ he snarled, Lana getting a glazed look, her eyes fading to a sea green. "Good thing I brought the poison that only affects the currently active personality," said Matt.

Lana shook her head, before blinking, though the same sultry smile remained. "Ok, Lana, I've already established I have a girlfriend, so put me down," said Matt. Lana shrugged before kissing him on the snout. Matt pushed Lana away and called, "Ling, get your daughter under control."

They both turned to see Ling trying to get the water off. "Oh crap!" yelped Lana, clicking her new talons and the bubble bursting.

Ling took a deep gasp before spitting out some water. "Lana, you're grounded till next millenia," he roared.

"Dad, it's not that bad," said Lana, "Maybe you should try it."

Korono and Ling snapped "No!"

Korono said, "You were a special case."

"It's not worth the risk," said Ling.

"Yeah, you were lucky. You could have easily melted," said Korono scoldingly.

"We need to keep moving," said Ling, "Those might not be the only cultists around here."

"Well, I guess we can just fly to the CCC now," said Lana.

"No, I'm am not being-ARRGH!" snapped Ling as Lana flew up and grabbed him, Korono/Matt rolling his eyes and flying after them. It only occured later to Matt that he should have given Lana some flying lessons first.

* * *

"Ok...what have we learnt, young padawan? KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD! Trees hurt," said Matt, Lana rubbing her head from the aforementioned crash.

"Secondly, always consider your passenger," said Matt, pointing at Ling. Ling was rocking in the corner and muttering to himself.

"Stop whining, Father," said Lana with a grumble, splashing his face.

Ling glared before walking over to Korono and pushing him to a quiet corner. "Ok, first off, what are you? Secondly, Korono's a terrible name, what's your real one?" he snapped.

"It is not a terrible name!" snapped Matt.

"It sounds like your overcompensating for something," said Ling.

"It's still better than Lazard," said Matt.

"That's a popular comic on my homeworld," snapped Ling.

"Huh, go fig," muttered Matt.

"Let's be honest here," said Ling, "Neither of those names are what your parents gave you, is it?"

"My name's Matthew...or Matt for short. And I watched your ancestors slaughter anyone they came across. I'm happy you grew out of that though," said Matt calmly.

"You're really that old?" asked Lana.

"No, but time's passed a lot more for you guys than it has for me," said Matt.

"Yeah...so when does that wear off?" asked Ling.

Matt shrugged, "Most likely permanent."

"Permanent?" snarled Ling.

"Look at it this way: your daughter's adding something useful and unique to your species's genepool. A gift from a god, you might say," said Matt, "That would make her pretty desirable."

Ling glared at that. "You think we're that primitive?" snarled Ling.

Lana laughed, "I don't wanna get rid of it..."

"But Lana, you're-" started Ling.

"Blue? I wouldn't be the only one," said Lana, "My horns are bigger? Not that big. I have wings? I did want to join the pilots' guild when I was younger."

"Look, you won't like the side effects. You tried for a minute to kill your father," snapped Matt harshly.

"You already took care of that," said Lana.

Matt sighed and muttered, "They ought to make pamphlets about the downsides of this. You could hurt people easily. It's a dangerous life...and...other people might want to get you."

"Who?" asked Lana.

"Oh, let me think, about every mad biologist who would vivisect you to find out what made you tick," said Matt, "I know there are a lot of them in this universe."

"I'll defeat them all, love," said Lana.

Matt facepalmed. "For the third time...accounted for. What would happen if the..." Matt paused and muttered himself, "Oh, what do they have here?" Speaking louder, he said, "What if the Kree found out about your abilities and decided they wanted to run experiments?"

He twitched as his armor wristcomp said, _"Kree infantry is inferior to Atlantean technology."_

_'Shut up, they don't know that,'_ thought Matt.

_"She does not have Atlantean technology,"_ said the wristcomp, before he snapped at Lana, "The Kree will rip the galaxy apart for someone like you."

"That I can believe," said Ling, "I've seen what the Kree have done to expand their knowledge of genetic engineering to compensate for their evolutionary stagnation."

"I don't know what I can do to cure her. My blood's suppressing the infection. If it's removed…" said Matt gloomily.

"That's for the future to worry about," said Lana, "Right now, we need to get the CCC repaired before the Savage Land becomes a frozen waste."

"Agreed, let me take the lead," said Matt, looking at their location, a smoking volcano. Though they were close to their destination, it did not feel as hot as it should. There were pockets of coolness here, marked by small clouds of mist floating around.

"This is not normal..." muttered Matt, taking off to get a good look...and a red bolt to explode against him. "Hey!" snapped Matt, more annoyed that startled.

Another shell knocked him out the sky, as the dry trees ahead collapsed as two bulky tanks rolled forward, white armored humanoids beside them and a few bipedal mechanoids. "Oh no, not the EGIS," moaned Matt.

"Three targets, FIRE!" yelled one of them, the two tanks and the troopers firing a hail of weapons fire.

Lana and Ling quickly took cover. Lana tried to draw in some water but couldn't find any. "Duh, we're next to an active volcano," she muttered, "Of course there would be no water."

A second later, the boulder they were behind was blown to rubble, a large bipedal mech pointing weapons at them. "Move and die," its pilot said.

Lana tried to conjure up a shield but produced nothing.

* * *

Matt glared, firing a plasma beam into one of the tanks, only for the beam to leave a faint scorch. The other tank said, via speaker, "Land and surrender or we take out your team."

"They can't be taken out that easily," said Matt.

He turned to see a battlesuit aiming at them. "Urgh...green as grass," he muttered landing slowly, the troopers surrounding him.

"We can get some payback for Balwak," one of them sneered.

"You're still sore about that?" asked Matt, "That was ages ago."

"Lynch, I think they're just happy about the bounty. Stand down," said a voice, Matt turning to see an anthro falcon wearing a glowing gem.

"Ugh, you again," said Matt with annoyance.

"Mr. Lynch, I am surprised you are here, given your lack of favor with the council," said the Operative calmly.

"Like I put any thought towards the council," said Matt.

"Indeed, McNeil is an annoying prat. I told you to stand down, men," the Operative said, his crystal glowing. The trooper's weapons getting the same glow before being forced into a neutral stance.

"Wait, you're not going to take me prisoner?" asked Matt.

"That depends on the reason you brought a trainee Shar-Khan with you and what appears to be a local," said the Operative calmly.

"I came to do something about the weather," said Matt.

"Ah yes. Doctor Karisa sent my men and I to investigate the same anomaly. It seems we are on the same side for once," said the Operative with a smug smile on his beak.

"I'm so giddy," said Matt sarcastically.

A second later, Ling landed behind the operative, grabbing him in a headlock. "It seems your men don;t take high jumps for a possibility. Tell your men to back down or I'll break your neck like straw," Ling snarled.

Matt snapped "LET HIM GO!" the Operative smiling before his gem glowed again and Ling's wrist made a snapping noise. It was more concerning that Ling's wrist didn't snap back right away and the way he screamed showed that he was just as surprised.

"It's not that hard for me to keep it snapped," said the Operative, Matt hanging his head, as Ling backed off before snarling as the operative pulled out a silver-like blade from his back. "I wouldn't," he warmed in the same calm form, as if this was normal.

"Enough," said Matt, "This is not getting us anywhere."

"Stay back, Mr. Lynch. I know all about infected. In this case, he needs a lesson in the pecking order," warned the Operative, sidestepping Ling's charge, giving a painful shallow cut to Ling's side. "Lesson one: Brute force is not always the ideal path," the Operative said, in the tone of a teacher, a few troopers cheering.

"They're not mindless monsters," said Matt, "They've evolved long past that."

"I guessed that..." said the Operative calmly, Ling glaring and firing a few shots, the Operative using his blade to block each one. "Lesson two: You aren;t the strongest person here," he said, Ling glaring.

Ling snarled before charging straight at the Operative. His target shrugged, spinning out the way and kicking Ling in the back, knocking him into the mud. "So end the lesson, I am in charge here," said the Operative, replacing his sword.

"Great, now we know who the dominant one is," said Matt dryly, "Can we get moving now?"

"We're evacuating," said the Operative calmly.

"Evacuating? We're supposed to be fixing the Climate Control Center," said Matt.

"I had an entire division to control the CCC for our engineers. These are all that's left," said the Operative darkly.

"Their security is that good?" asked Lana.

"No, they're giants," said the Operative.

Matt blinked. "Our last tangle didn't give you brain damage, did it?" asked Matt, before noticing the troopers didn't seem like they were amused. "So, what kind of giants are we talking about? Rock giants? Cyclops? 'Fee fi fo fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman'?" asked Matt.

"Ice elementals. I had 12 tanks at my disposal, now I have 2. I've called for reinforcements, but the lab is in lockdown for some reason," said the Operative.

"Wait a second, frost giants?" asked Matt, "I mean, yes, that's not something you would expect in Antarctica. But not this part of Antarctica."

"Yes, some sort of portal was at the location. We should move on. They're slow and stupid but relentless," said the Operative, before a whistling was heard, an ice spike slamming through one of the tanks.

"Lucky for you, you've got someone who can deal with these living snowmen," said Matt.

"All units, give Mr Lynch some cover," called the Operative as Matt took off.

"Ok, those ice giants shouldn't be too hard to find," said Matt, looking around. It didn't take very long. The localized snowstorm was a dead giveaway. "Gotcha," he muttered, sending a salvo into the cloud.

Unsurprisingly, three ice spikes shot back at Matt. "GAH!" snapped Matt, dodging two and blasting the third, two blasts shooting out into the cloud.

Matt sent a wave of plasma that was more heat than force, intending to get rid of the cloud. The cloud was blasted away to show several white ice creatures. They weren't as armored as Matt was expecting. Though considering they were 10-foot tall warriors made out of blue ice, they probably weren't concerned about being easily hurt.

"Dragon, crush it!" called one of them in a hissing voice, pointing at Matt, who looked behind him on reflex.

"Sorry boys, but the forecast calls for a heatwave," said Matt. The three creatures exchanged a glance before spewing an icy wind, far colder than anything Matt had experienced before. "Ok, that's pretty cold," said Matt. A second blast began to frost his wings, before one of the ice giants charged at him far too quick for something its size. "Ok, these guys are tougher than I imagined," said Matt.

The ice giant had already reached him at that. "You're smaller than the wyrms back home," he sneered, sending an ice blast at Matt.

"But I bet I'm hotter," said Matt, covering his body with plasma. The ice giant reared back, before slashing at Matt. Matt winced a little bit. The frost giant's ice was as sharp as glass.

A second later, a shell slammed into the ice giant's shoulder, the shoulder shattering like...well, ice. The giant itself seemed surprised before there was a shik and part of its head fell away.

"Still think you're a match for them?" asked the Operative in an unamused voice.

"Ah, go chew some birdseed." snapped Matt, sending a blast into the wounded giant, shattering it, the other two backing off.

"The remaining two shouldn't pose a problem," said the Operative

There was a rumble from the volcano at that, Matt sniffing before tackling the Operative, just as the ground he was over flash froze, the 'dead' ice giant reforming.

"This land favors us more than you now, dragon," said the frost giant after his head came back together.

"He's right. All units, fall back," called the Operative.

"But-" started Matt before the Operative grabbed him.

"This is lost. As soon as we're clear, I'm calling in an orbital blast from my cruiser," said the Operative, the men below fleeing, three having to drag Lana along.

"What? That is completely disproportionate to the-" started Matt.

He twitched before slumping, the Operative using his TK to lower him. "Get him on the tank. We're retreating to the edge...and get me a line with the Helakus. I want an orbital blast prepped."

"You can't!" protested Lana.

"Yes, I can. That climate center is going to collapse any day and if those things get a foothold outside this place, the world will be in danger," said the Operative calmly

"But-" started Lana before she was darted with a sedative. "Pull back to the base camp," said the Operative, "We're shipping out in half an hour."

* * *

Lana opened her eyes to raised voices, looking around dizzily to see Matt snapping, "You can't just nuke this place from orbit. To say the least of the damage that'd cause if you blew up the south pole..."

"Those frost giants are a threat to this planet if they manage to get a foothold here," said the Operative.

"C'mon, Thor smashes them like they're piñatas. Maybe if you put in more effort, you wouldn't be running," snapped Matt.

"200 of my men are dead at those thing's hands. They need to be removed completely. Those heroes usually only do a half job anyway," snapped the Operative.

"The way I see it, you're not even trying and you're just rage-quitting," said Matt.

"This place is coming apart. We need the remaining time to evacuate the hot lab staff," said the Operative calmly.

"So you're not going to protect this ancient paradise just because you don't live here," said Matt. Just then, one of the troopers ran by screaming with a giant centipede clinging to his back. "Maybe 'paradise' is the wrong word," said Matt.

"So...how would you get past them? They regenerated quite easily," said the operative sarcastically.

"They have some type of home field advantage," said Matt, "Obviously not natural. If it could be removed, they'd melt like snowmen in July."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they damaged the generator. However, they are also easily defending it," said the Operative.

"Well, we still have to try," said Matt, "We owe it to this world."

"So...how will it be done? A foolish frontal assault?" scorned the Operative.

Matt thought it over and said, "I suppose Norse giants don't read Greek mythology, do they?"

"I doubt it, though our research indicates that the mythical creatures here seem to cohabitate," said the Operative.

"So they've probably never heard of Troy," said Matt.

* * *

"Urgh...bloody bird cut me head in two. Nothing'll look right for a century," muttered one of the ice giants.

"How much longer do we have to stay in Lizard Land?" complained another ice giant, "This place isn't cooling down fast enough for me."

"Bloody mortal technology...but it's made this place cool enough. Wait till it does the same to the rest of this world," sneered the third.

"A sweltering pit like this doesn't belong in a land of ice and cold," said the second giant.

"And yet we somehow managed to find it thanks to Captain Lost here," said the third giant dryly.

"Oi! Not my fault the bloody Asgardians control all the best paths," snapped the first.

"Wasn't so bad out there," said the second giant, "All those fat little black and white birds."

"I think they're called penguins," said the first.

The third snapped, "Why don't we just smash this thing?"

"Because the explosion will bury us in lava before we could get away," said the first giant.

"I said smash it, not blow it up. We could ice it up," said the third.

"It'd melt first," said the first one.

"Well...least there's no Thor here," said the second.

"I nearly miss Thor," said the third giant, "At least he doesn't stink like this place." There was a crash at that, all three jumping "BY YMIR, IT'S THOR!" the third panicked.

However, instead of another crash, a loud knocking was heard. "You two get it," said the third carefully

The ice giants peered out to see one of the human trucks, a few dozen canisters in the back, white ice-cold steam coming out. "What are those?" asked the second giant, looking at the canisters.

The third reached out and picked up one of them, ice forming on his hand before he opened it, sniffed it, and took a swig. "It's some sorta drink...real cold."

"Must be some sort of offering," said the first giant, "Those mortals realized they couldn't beat us and left this out for us to appease us."

"Nice..." said the second, tossing two other canisters to the others before they walked back in laughing. After a minute or two, several of the canisters wobbled before unscrewing their tops, Matt popping out the first. The worst part of this plan was that they'd had to fill the canister he and the others were in with water to simulate the weight. "Good thing they've never read Ali Baba either," said Matt before looking at the others, "Why aren't you guys wet?"

"Why are you wet?" asked Lana in confusion.

Matt paused before muttering, "Those jerks."

The Operative sliced his way out the last one before saying "Technology like this will have a reboot and self repair. We find control and it's over."

"That simple?" asked Lana.

"Of course there will be heavy defences most likely...and the giants as well," said the Operative.

"Yeah, always are," said Matt.

"My men managed a small sweep before those things appeared. It should be...wait, you're a plasma eater, sense it," snapped the Operative.

"Ok, but it's been a while since I've- Oh, there it is," said Matt, pointing in one direction.

"Lead the way, Banisher," said Ling.

* * *

It didn't take long for the rock tunnels to turn to corroded metal...well, probably metal. "Urgh...too much volcano," muttered Matt, turning the corner and being dragged back. "What are you-" started Matt before a hand was clapped over his mouth. It was then Matt heard the deep snoring up ahead.

The group peered around the corner to see several empty liquid nitro canisters, and the three giants sleeping...and several smaller quadruped creatures. "Didn't notice the ice wolves before," whispered Matt.

"Neither did I. Must mean they're sending more things through..." hissed the Operative urgently.

"Ok, can we go around them?" asked Ling.

"With difficulty, but yes. I see two...mighty mean ones prowling," muttered the Operative.

"So keep an eye out for it and let's-" started Lana before jumping and giving a stifled yelp.

The group spun only hearing some skittering claws. "Ok, let's go," said Matt nervously.

"No loud noises," whispered Ling.

The group crept forward, one at a time just in case, towards the door just visible behind the giants, Matt left as last. "Urgh...crush...Midgardians," muttered one giant as Matt went past, before seeing the others...and their horrified faces. He slowly turned to see he was on head height with a lupine face, happily anting before it barked, some dust falling from the ceiling and the giants suddenly jumping. The wolf, to its credit looked panicked, before chomping Matt.

The giants were on their feet by then. "Urgh...bloody runt of a mutt. Got too much midgard blood in it."

"Ugh...my head..." said one giant, "Didn't know the Midgardians made such good drinks."

"Urgh...Turegg's bloody mutt woke us," moaned another.

The third, apparently Turegg, snapped, "Stupid mongrel, why'd you wake us?" The wolf, different from its fellows that it had more icy bluish fur then ice tried to look innocent, even as its cheeks bulged.

"What have you got in your mouth?" asked one giant accusingly.

The wolf made a show of looking behind it for a second before tilting its head as if to say 'Who, me?'

"It better not be my boot again," said Turegg.

The wolf shook its head before chewing. "Ah, leave it, Turegg. It's clearly found someone to eat. Least it's not tryin' to hide em," said the second giant.

"Fine. Stupid mutt got us up over nothing. Lets just go huntin'. Vek, Norik," snapped Turegg, the other two wolves jumping to attention, giving the third smug looks. "C'mon. Let's see if we can find something else besides lizards," said Turegg.

The wolf watched then go before yelping and spitting a frost-covered Matt out, licking him. However, Matt didn't move after being spat out. The wolf tilted its head before grabbing Matt by the leg and dragging him off. It ran to the edge of a glowing pit and picked Matt up proper, hanging him over the lava pool before Matt slowly thawing and what had clearly been the start of a scream finishing. The wolf dropped Matt at the edge of the pool and panted happily, glad to see his new friend was moving again.

"I...I...what...why..." muttered Matt shaking in horror, the wolf happily likcing him. It hadn't had so much fun since its father had taken him to the icy place.

Eventually, the others approached, though staying out of reach of the wolf. It turned to look at them with a happy pant, which went away when it looked at the Operative, carefully moving itself so it was between him and Matt.

"So what just happened?" asked Lana.

"It seems to have imprinted on Mr. Lynch...all we need," muttered the Operative, walking towards Matt only for the ice wolf to shove a growing paw in his way, the wolf growing to be twice their sizes.

"Oh great," muttered Matt, "As if we didn't have enough with the dracowolf, saber cat, and chupacabra."

"He did save you," pointed out Lana.

"I don't suppose I can interest any of you in him," said Matt.

"No," said the others, the wolf shrinking down to a normal canine's size and putting its head as best in Matt's lap as it could, deploying the canine WMD of the 'puppy dog eyes' look.

"Oh, not fair, cut it out!" snapped Matt, covering his eyes. The dog made a sad whine at that, Matt twitching before snapping, "FINE! But no eating the sabretooth kit."

"Can we get on with finding the controls now?" asked the Operative in an annoyed tone.

The wolf growled at him before its ears perked up, running for a tunnel in the cave wall.

"Maybe he knows where to go," said Lana.

"Oh please, it's one of the ice giant's pets," muttered the Operative, as they followed, "I'll eat my hat if it knows."

* * *

"Do you want your hat flambeed or turned into a cake?" teased Matt, though the command centre was still a mess. There were sections coated in ice, but the controls themselves were untouched.

"Yeah, they were here..." said Matt, looking at the controls, adding, "Most of this is fried. If Techo was here, we could get this working in an hour."

"We'll have to make due with what we have," said Ling.

"Yeah...how good's your kit, Ling?" said Matt, looking for a hatch.

"Since I often have to repair my ship myself, I would think I'm very decent," said Ling.

"Ok...you're Techo. Fix it." sad Matt, walking to the main door, only for the wolf to drag him back. "Now what?" snapped Matt. The wolf nudged the door open to show several shards of shattered ice in the room beyond. "Huh, what's this all for?" asked Matt.

"Er, they weren't just make ice sculptures in here, were they?" asked Lana as she held up what was clearly a broken-off hand made of ice.

"Good boy," said Matt faintly.

"That looks to be about...four other giants," said Lana, looking at the piles.

"Yeah..." said Matt.

Ling called, "I got something working."

The others came over, the wolf even jumping its front paws up to watch as an image flickered to life, showing a room before a rift opened, 7 ice giants falling out of it, looking around before a pack of the ice wolves, their companion standing out, fell on them before the leader snapped. "This don't look like any Midgard I know..."

"I know it's the right world," said one of the giant.

"You couldn't find your own bed," snapped another giant.

"Hey, I got us out of that Asgard prison, didn't I?" snapped the first one.

"Through dumb luck and shoddy maintenance on the Asgardians' part," snapped the second one.

"Enough. Let's just find out where we are," snapped a third.

"Not a bad place to stay though," said another giant, "If they have food here."

"Spread out. Give it a week and this place'll be a home away from home," smirked the leader before the video looped.

"Well, that explains some things...and why they fried this place," said Matt.

"So what smashed them?" asked Lana.

Matt walked over to the door, picking up a rock and throwing it in, a dozen red beams slicing the rock to gravel. "That'd do it," said Matt.

The wolf whimpered at that, more so when the consoles, part of them, lit up. "Warning: Incursion detected. All sectors. Severe damage to main geothermal systems. Array 1 offline," said a calm female voice.

"Is this the self-repair program?" asked Lana.

"Intruders in main control," said the computer at that.

"That means us, doesn't it?" asked Lana.

"Defences offline," said the computer, a general sigh of relief going around at that.

"Ok, let's start working on restarting this thing," said Matt.

"Automatic self-repair offline. Manual override in geothermal plant. Alert: Climate deterioration at 74%. Estimated time to irreversible damage...8 galactic standard hours," said the computer.

"Not too long in the grand scheme of things," said Ling.

"Well, at least we have plenty of time," said Matt.

"Really? We don't know the layout and the computer will probably try to kill us too," snapped the Operative, before saying, "I'm going to call in the strike..." before the wolf knocked him down.

"Good boy," said Matt, scratching the wolf's head.

"Tie him up," said Ling, picking up some cabling.

* * *

"You're all mad. We need to get out of here," snapped the Operative before the wolf licked his beak, said beak freezing shut.

"We're not leaving until the job's done," said Matt, "Unlike you, I don't quit before it's finished." The Operative just glared and struggled a little. "Ok...geothermal plant...anyone have an idea where it would be?"

Lana, who was looking out the window at the front of the room, said weakly "Down?" looking down to a vast center hanging over what was the contents of the volcano.

"I suppose OSHA standards don't apply to ancient aliens," said Matt.

"Nope. I'll need to do this. I'm the only one in a tether suit," said Ling.

"Dad, it's too dangerous," said Lana.

"Anyone else will burn..." said Ling grimly.

"But Matt could do it," said Lana.

"Not really," said Matt, "Being a plasma dragon doesn't protect you from lava. That's a different element."

"Then I will," began Lana, before Ling snapped "You'll fry. I won't allow it."

"I have water powers!" snapped Lana.

"Unless you can summon a lake's worth of water, you're not going to last long at all in a volcano," said Matt. Lana glared and crossed her arms before Matt said, "We'll need to warn interference anyway."

"Pardon?" asked Lana.

"You think those walking ice sculptures are going to let us undo all their work?" asked Matt pointedly, "Look, we need to run interference and you're a rookie."

Lana said, "So were you and you're-" began Lana before shrieking as Matt ripped some of the covering off his mechanical arm.

"A souvenir courtesy of overconfidence. Yeah, it's bad, but it would have been worse if that arm had stayed attached," snarled Matt, "I don't have the advantage of a healing factor like yours." Lana stared in horror at the metal underneath, a few tiny whirs heard as Matt flexed. "You want one too or are you gonna listen?" he said, "And before you say 'that won't happen to me', I do know there are some injuries that your kind can't heal from. I know an Infected who ended up mostly metal. And I'm pretty sure even you can't handle molten lava."

Lana just stared as the fake skin covering regrew. "Now then, Ling, go do your job. We'll handle things up here..."

"If I don't make it back-" started Ling.

Lana stared as Matt said, "Lana'll be fine. I know where she can learn to not accidentally drown things, good people too."

"Good," said Ling with a nod.

"Dad..." began Lana

"Don't worry, Lana," said Ling, "Everything's going to be fine."

"You're lying. You'll get killed," snarled Lana, her eyes getting a red glow.

"Matt..." said Ling.

Matt walked forward, grabbing Lana's arm, "If he doesn't do this, we all die. Everyone in this place dies. Thousands upon thousands."

"It's the only way," said Ling.

"Dad...please," cried Lana, the glow vanishing as she hugged him.

The Operative managed to crack the ice covering off his beak and snapped, "_One_ of you go into that. I have no wish to be incinerated. I swear I'll make sure you go first if you don't...oh God not agai-" he snapped as the wolf breached a mist on him, covering him in frost, apparently freezing him.

"Maybe we could make him do it," said Lana.

"I'd like that, but I don't think we'll be able to convince him," said Matt.

"Dad..." cried Lana, before Matt gently pulled her away.

Ling, his helmet reforming, said, "If you let her get hurt, I will find a way to kill you from beyond the grave, banisher."

"You might be able to pull that off," said Matt.

Ling got up at that, checking a blueprint on the controls, before turning to the others, "Make these ice things pay." The wolf looking surprised before Ling said, "Present company accepted."

"I guess you and me will keep the frost giants busy," said Matt to Lana.

"Uh, I just thought of something," said Lana, "Wouldn't I be at a disadvantage against them? Ice freezes water."

"Water can melt ice too," said Matt, "And ice is another form of water. You could use it against them."

"Ok...you think I can do it?" said Lana nervously.

Matt grinned. "Hey, when I started, I got no training either. Just wing it," he said, before looking at the controls for the intercom. "Calling all sentient ice cubes, your mothers were ice makers," he said, the wolf barking into it too. "Oh, and your pet hangs in his notice," Matt added.

There wasn't an immediate reply to that. "Maybe they didn't get the insults," said Lana.

"Oh, I know what'll get them," said Matt before turning on the intercom, "Asgard rules." There was a collection of distant roars at that. "Always know your enemy's triggers," said Matt sagely, "Ok, there should be a fire sprinkler system that you should be able to access."

He looked around, Lana ding so too before sensing a tingle in the wall. "There..." she said in a faint voice.

"Good, you have a ready supply of the stuff," said Matt.

"And you just generate your own plasma?" asked Ling.

"Yes. Admittedly, I haven't spent a lot of time among tangible-element dragons," said Matt.

He blasted a shot at the wall, revealing an old pipe, Lana's eyes widening hungrily, before she lifted her hand, the pipe creaking before bursting, the water shooting out and into her chest, soaking in like a sponge.

"Just don't damage the system too much," said Matt, "This control center needs to repair itself."

"Screw that, I wanna smash some ice heads," snapped Lana eagerly.

"Right..." said Matt a little worriedly. The ice wolf whimpered a little.

There was a crash at the far end of the trap corridor, the three turning to look before the door iced up and was smashed open. The giants stomped through, looking pretty angry.

"Asgard rules, chuckleheads!" called Matt. The giants roared before throwing ice spears at Matt. Matt yelped at that, before the spears stopped dead in the air, melting into ice water. "Nice one, Lana," muttered Matt.

Lana gasped a bit and icy mist came out of her nostrils. "Taking the cold out of them is hard than it looks," she said.

Matt noticed a few of her scales lighter as well. "Now, I shall demonstrate the fine art of the bitchslap, young padawan," he said, igniting his plasma blade, apparently not noticing the two remaining ice wolves coming at him from behind.

Just then, the ice wolf on their side barked and tackled his purebred brethren. Matt turned, slicing the last wolf's head off neatly. "Hey...my wolves eating your wolf and I killed the other," he called, his eyes glowing and the hidden turrets all blowing at once.

Several shards of ice flew everywhere, but the frost giants were already healing and stomping forwards. "And we have a volunteer," sneered Matt, an aura appearing around him before he flew at the first one. It wasn't quite so easy as Matt. Hitting the frost giant felt like hitting an iceberg. Yes, there were cracks in the icy brute, but Matt's bones were jarred pretty badly.

"Ok...maybe too much bravado. I'm sure we're civil...right?" asked Matt.

The frost giant growled before materializing an ice club and bringing it down on Matt. Matt blasted it with point blank plasma flames before letting the heat go into his fist and punching as deep as he could. "Uncivil it is!" he screamed.

The frost giant splintered at that, but the floor was already coated in ice and it looked like it he was starting to pull himself back together. "No," said Matt darkly, doing another flame blast on the shards.

"They've still got a field advantage," said Ling, "We need to make it hotter."

"Warning...coolant pipe removed...unable to regulate heating in control," said the computer.

"Oops," said Ling.

"No, this is a good thing," said Matt, "Things are going to warm up."

"Crush these wyrms...and that damn mutt!" snapped one of the remaining giants snapped.

Matt blasted at more of the ice, but it was still freezing faster than it was melting. "Lana, a little more aqua please?" called Matt.

A few blasts of water hit one of the giants, only for them to turn to ice immediately. "Heh...nice try," sneered the giant, smashing Matt into Lana.

"Lana, you might want to work on taking out the cold more," said Matt. Lana was looking rather pale, her breathing was a little raspy and there were icicles forming around her lips.

"Lana? That's not a good look for you. Cut the blasts...or find a hot water pipe," Matt yelled, pulling at his collar. The temperature in the control room was rising fast.

"Gotta...keep...going..." gasped Lana, her nostrils starting to ice over.

"It's not working!" snapped Matt, grabbing her and recoiling, the cold low enough to burn.

"Can't...stop..." whispered Lana.

"Bit cold?" said one of the ice giants smugly.

Matt snarled before sending hot plasma at the giants. This time the giants dodged, one sending a white blast of ice at Matt's legs. Unfortunately, this time Matt's legs were frozen to the floor in thick ice.

He struggled a little before looking over at Lana. Lana's head was becoming covered in ice, which was spreading down her back and over her arms.

Matt's eyes blazed as the last was covered, her connection cut. The wolf was punted into the far wall as the giants came in. "Aw...guess she tried too hard," sneered one, looking at Matt who was twitching. Now a sensible villain who knew Matt would treat this as the proverbial smoke from the volcano…these were not sensible giants

Quite quickly, the air was getting filled with steam, the coldness being overridden with heat. "R...raaaa..." began Matt, the giants looking at each other.

"You ok?" asked the first before Matt screamed "RAAAAAGE!" smashed himself free and facehuggered the giant, who fell backwards with a girly scream.

"Oh, get yourself together, Hamut," said the other giant, "He's only a mortal."

"IT'S BITING MY FACE, TERUGG!" Screamed Hamut, Terugg rolling his eyes and walking towards the iced-up dragon.

"Might as well smash this one now," said Terugg. The ice around Lana began to crack at that. "What the-" started Terugg.

A white-scaled arm punched its way out, a snarl heard within. The cracks spread over the ice before bursting off. Lana was noticeably different. There were white scales up to her elbows and knees, icy spikes down her back, and her horns were bigger and looked like they were made out of ice.

"By Ymir's-" began Terugg before he was blasted off his feet.

"Ice giant worm...you think you can beat a dragon?" snapped Lana in a hissing voice.

"You're still just a little pond nymph to me," said Terugg before blasting the dragoness with ice. The blast hit her, only for it to be soaked, up, Lana glowing and growing into a large dragoness that took up most of the spare room.

Matt paused in his savaging of Hamut's face. "Who's casting the shadow?" he asked before looking back. He and Hamut stared at the regal dragoness looming over Terugg, her eyes glowing solid blue. "Well...unexpected," he said.

Hamut saying "Yeah..." before they looked at each other, Matt grinned madly and picked up where he left off.

The water dragon roared, letting out a flood of water from her mouth as she did so. The remaining ice giant just laughed, freezing it as it poured. "Idiot," he taunted.

The dragoness then took a deep breath in, icy mist being pulling into her mouth. The ice giant's reaction was to make a gasping noise, like he couldn't breathe, shrinking as he gasped.

"Huh, never saw that before," said Matt, feeling the heat rising in the room.

The ice giant he was fighting managed to throw him off at that, turning to try to run, sadly attracting Lana's attention. Lana sent a blast of water at him. This time the water didn't freeze and Matt could see the ice starting to melt and crack.

"Lana, stop it! You're gonna kill em!" snapped Matt.

His dazed opponent said, "What did you do then?"

Matt, not missing a beat, said, "Reading you your rights."

Lana paused a moment and asked, "Isn't that the point?"

"No. Khans don't kill. We humiliate, annoy, injure, but we don't kill," said Matt sternly.

"Why not? They were ready to kill us and everyone in the Savage Land," snarled Lana.

"Killing in defence is different from murder. That's a path you don't want," said Matt.

"Why shouldn't I? My father is sacrificing his life because of what they did!" snapped Lana before pausing, "But maybe I can make sure he doesn't have to now."

"Lana, freezing a volcano's beyond even you. You're not lava-proof," snapped Matt.

"I don't have to freeze it," said Lana, "I just need to cool off the surface."

"Lana, that might not be better," said Matt, "The lava pressure..."

Lana spread her wings, smashing the window. "I'm not waiting!" she roared.

"Lana, wait!" yelled Matt before Lana flew out the window, leaving a splash of icy water in her wake.

Matt paused, looking at the water. "Oh shit. Armor, were any of the good doctor's upgraded nanites included?" he asked.

"Yes...39 were detected and are multiplying exponentially."

"Great, bad enough I turned an Infected into a Shar, she's becoming a Shar-Ekta. Chloe will never let me hear the end of this," said Matt. "Tell me there's a heat shield on this," he muttered, jumping out after her.

* * *

"Alert...overload imminent..." said the geo-plant reactor computer, Ling wincing as his tether suit adapted to the heat again as he looked through the steam for the override.

"It has to be here," he said, a little weakly. If he were more mammalian, he would be sweating now.

"Warning...reactor overload imminent..." said the reactor computer, Ling seeing several lights.

"Oh thank the Lord," he said, starting to hit switches before the computer said "Code 12...pressure anomaly in main magma chamber."

"Oh, what now?" snapped Ling.

He hit the last switch, the system saying "Override...failure...pressure anomaly has locked overload...transferring to backup reactors. Manual pressure release urgent."

Ling however had staggered back to the entrance to see the lava had fade to a grey, orange cracks glowing. "How is this possible?" he asked.

"Dad...I saved you," said Lana's voice, a white winged lizard landing opposite him, though her form seemed to be rippling.

"Lana?" asked Ling in confusion. The winged lizard looked to be made out of frozen and liquid water. "That damn banisher's curse," Ling snarled before running over to her, "What else did he do? No matter, I'll have the best gene doctors waiting when we return home."

"Dad, I'm fine," said Lana, her voice echoing like it was underwater, "I'm stronger than I was before."

"Look at yourself. You're barely solid...and what happened down there? It looks as stable as the banisher!" snapped Ling, pointing first to her then at the cracking crust before an announcement said "Alert...release pressure...possibility of catastrophic pyroclastic explosion at 53% and rising."

"I was cooling off the volcano," said Lana.

"Blocking a hole doesn't turn off the pressure," said Ling, "It just builds it up."

"Pyroclastic explosion possibility at 62%. Reroute pressure! Reroute pressure!"

"Oh no, what do I do? What do I do?" asked Lana, her form rippling and bubbling.

"Lana, calm down," said Ling, grasping her hands, only for his hands to pass through hers. "Lana, you have to go. I think I can stop this but you have to go..." said Ling kindly.

"No, I can do this!" yelled Lana, part of her tail turning briefly into vapor.

"LANA! LISTEN TO ME! Do you remember the disaster at Mt. Icaru at home? This will be a thousand times worse," snapped Ling angrily.

Lana condensed into a watery version of her normal form. "But I can't lose you," said Lana.

"Lana, as long as you remember someone, they're never truly gone," said Ling kindly.

"But..." bubbled Lana.

"It was meant to be this way, one way or another," said Ling, "Fate can't be overturned."

Ling paused before running back into the generator, the door sealing.

"Father, no!" yelled Lana, forming a wave and splashing against the door before taking ice form and banging on it.

"Emergency venting in progress...please vacate the main chamber," said the AI, several beams hitting the crust, steam shooting out, one hitting Lana's arm. Lana cried out in pain as her arm was evaporated before it regenerated.

Matt yelled from above. "LANA! MOVE IT!"

"But he's in there!" yelled Lana.

"And he's saving everyone!" snapped Matt.

"I won't lose him!" yelled Lana.

"YOU DON'T HAVE A CHOICE!" roared Matt, more steam shooting up, "Water elemental or not, you're not going to survive this close to a volcano. There won't be any vapor of you left."

"No! I'm not go-" began Lana, before Matt shoved a taser grenade in her. Of course, water conducts electricity so it was no surprise to see Lana light up and partially evaporate.

"Dead or alive," muttered Matt, grabbing part of her that was ice and taking off, the wolf jumping on his back as he passed the window.

The piece of ice was slowly growing into a living ice statue shaped like Lana.

* * *

"Warning...releasing pressure will result in staff termination...do you wish final base report?" said the computer, Ling programming the last few commands

"Might as well," said Ling.

"Status. Power transferred to secondary reactors. Array two online. Climate stabilizing. All remaining staff have evacuated," said the computer, the floor beginning to shake.

"Then I've done everything I can," said Ling.

"Confirming...plant integrity at 3%...2%...1%..." said the computer calmly, before the walls gave in...

* * *

Lana shook herself to consciousness in time to see the volcano erupt. "FATHER, NOOOOOO!" she screamed.

"Hey, careful up there," snapped Matt's voice.

"Put me down!" yelled Lana.

"No, there's nothing you can do," snapped Matt, the wolf growling at her.

"You stopped me from saving him!" yelled Lana.

"There was nothing that could be done," said Matt, "He was going to go out whether you went elemental or not."

"But..." said Lana.

"That lava's hot enough to vaporise...and you nearly made it far worse by rushing in. If he hadn't we'd never have made safe distance and half the Savage Land would be dead and the other half dying!" roared Matt in a tone that make Lana cringe on dragonic reflex.

"Look, I wish there was a way that your dad could have lived, but there just wasn't-" stared Matt before something cold and wet started dripping on his face. "Could you please not cry directly over my head?" asked Matt.

"That's not me," said Lana.

Matt looked up to see the wolf panting in the wind happily. "It's a multiversal law..." muttered Matt, before the dog yelped, Matt looking ahead to see a tree rapidly approaching to say hi.

* * *

Several EGIS troopers were waiting for their boss. "You don't think he was blown up, do you?" asked one.

"If he has, I've got 100 credits waiting for me back home," said another trooper.

"No you don't," said the Operative behind them, the two troopers yelping and turning to salute a soot-covered and smoking Operative. "Though it was close," he said, before a 'fwhack' was heard above them. "And that will be Mr. Lynch hitting a tree."

"Has the situation been dealt with, sir?" asked one trooper.

"Yes, it seems this place gets to live. Call in medivac...and make sure Mr. Lynch and his friends are in cuffs," said the Operative.

"We're not taking them to the ship, are we?" asked one trooper nervously. Ships taking Matthew Lynch prisoner tended to explode and/or crash.

"No...we head for the lab and Dr. Karisa can sedate him properly," said the Operative.

A trooper shrugged and said, "Her lab's better than our ship."

"I said call it in..." snapped the Operative.

* * *

While Matt and the ice wolf were easily confined, the watery Infected gave the EGIS troopers more trouble. When she was unconscious, it was rather hard to grab someone that literally slipped through your fingers. Being conscious didn't make her agreeable.

"For the last time, get in your damn cell," snapped a guard.

"Maybe we should just use a sponge," said another guard.

Lana solidified for a second and blew a raspberry at them, before drenching them. "Private, get the sponges," said the dripping captain in the tone usually reserved for 'get the thumbscrews'

* * *

"All that hassle to bring in a puddle," grumbled one guard, who walked dripping into the ship's bridge.

The Operative snapped, "Not near the controls."

"Sorry, sir," said the guard, "I just can't seem to dry off. Who knew these uniforms could hold so much water?" He pulled off his glove and started wringing a surprisingly large amount of water out of it.

The Operative paused before asking, "How much water?"

"Alot..." said the trooper gloomily. The puddle on the floor bubbled before springing up in a shapely lizard-shaped fountain.

"Urgh," muttered the Operative, walking towards her. "You're still under arrest, young lady," he said.

"I don't have to answer to you," said Lana, "This isn't your planet."

"It's not yours either. We'd have detected your plague from orbit," said the Operative.

"If by 'plague' you mean my stranded crewmembers, I do need to pick them up," said Lana.

"I suppose so. Heroes should get something. Give me the coordinates," said the Operative.

"You must think I'm wet behind the ears," said Lana.

"You are," said the Operative calmly.

"Ok, not my best attempt at water puns," said Lana, "But I know you're only wanting coordinates so you can attack or capture my crewmembers."

"It seems then we leave them undefended to the raptors," said the Operative smugly.

"You know, I hear that adjusting to new environments can awfully hard on your stomachs," said Lana. Suddenly, everyone in the bridge doubled over as their stomach acids did a nauseating twirl. A second later, she regretted it as one of the pilots keeled over, the ship listing.

The Operative snapped, "STOP THIS BEFORE YOU KILL US ALL!"

Lana yelped before grabbing the controls. Lana pulled hard, screaming as the ground got close before it levelled out, a technician taking the controls, before two guards shoved shock batons in Lana's back. Of course, the difference between using a shock grenade and a shock baton was that one was still holding a baton and using it on a water elemental is not safe to do in close quarters.

The Operative side stepped as his men were thrown back before he flicked a small blade into her, it beeped before grey began to spread for it. Lana tried to turn into vapor, but she found it couldn't change her body as the grey spread. "Petrification solution," said the Operative, "Think of it as a tightly compressed bag of cement mix."

"You...I...GAAAH!" snapped Lana, lunging and smashing a guard aside before the Operative neatly dodged her, blasting her in the back.

Lana staggered, but only a small crack appeared in her back. The Operative blasted her again, this time with a sonic blast, Lana yelping. "If you do not surrender, I'll up the charge and shatter you. Prepare for rescue operations at the crashed ship. And put...this in lockup," snapped the Operative when Lana reluctantly raised her hands.

"You sure she'll stay there?" asked a guard.

"Right now, she's as solid as a rock," said the Operative.

* * *

The remnants of the ship's crew were happy to see the rescue ships, meaning an easy flight home. "Sir...communique from the ship. They had to deploy BlackStar units to the lab. Some sort of outbreak. Everything seems in order now," said the pilot calmly.

"Good. We already have another potential outbreak on our hands," said the Operative.

"Doctor Karisa and the lab VI confirm the outbreak's no longer viable," said the pilot.

"Unless she can confirm the same for these lizards, I'm not letting my guard down," said the Operative.

"Well, they haven't tried to kill us," said another pilot.

"Lulling us into a false sense of security," said the Operative dismissively.

"Lab in sight, sir...VI confirms outbreak's secure," said a technician at the sensor controls.

"Good, let's get the wounded unloaded," said the Operative.

* * *

Matt walked off, feeling utterly exhausted, into the lab. "Urgh...ok, let's get the dissection attempts over with," he called.

"Matt?" Matt looked up to see White Tiger.

"Oh, hey, White Tiger. How have you been?" asked Matt.

"Lost in the jungle, mutagenic wildflowers, prehistoric skunks, the usual," said White Tiger.

"Ok, I-did you say prehistoric skunks?" said Matt in confusion.

"And it turns out their spray makes an effective counter-mutagen. Go figure," said White Tiger.

"Oh...ok, who got mutated? Chloe?" said Matt cheerfully, looking around.

"We...haven't found her yet," said White Tiger.

"Yes, I can't wait to see her," said Matt, forcefully, his eye twitching and his grin getting a little _too_ wide.

Just then, something very large tackled Matt. Looking up, he saw an adult version of Snowbell. "Hi Matt," she said. Matt blinked before Snowbell was tackled, the wolf looking at her with a lupine smile...after all, any friend of his new friend was his too.

"I see your saber cat and raise you one ice wolf," said Matt. The wolf barked at that, looking around before looking at Matt, jumping off a dazed Snowbell.

"So, where's Spider-Man?" asked Matt.

"He and Chris are fine. Apparently, he and Wolf-Bat found out about a conspiracy to turn two native races against each other by turning their leaders into energy vampires," said White Tiger.

Matt blinked. "My God...someone with a weirder life then me... However, I do have the trump card. LANA, COME ON DOWN!" said Matt, calling up the ramp.

"No!" called Lana stubbornly.

"NOW, LANA!" snapped Matt.

"Not until I'm liquid again!" called Lana.

"Liquid?" said Ka-Zar in confusion, Matt glaring before what looked like a sky-blue dragoness walked walked down the ramp.

"Everyone, this is Lana of the Navaki, now a member of the Shar-Ekta," said Matt.

Lana glared and said, "I hate you all." in a low voice.

"She like Hydro-Man?" asked Ka-Zar.

"Who?" asked Matt.

"A villain from the outside who controls water. We have faced him before," said Ka-Zar.

Lana snapped, "I'm not a villain, I'm 18."

"Uh, unless Hydro-Man can turn into ice and vapor, she's not like him," said Matt, "So I guess that means I had the strangest adventure."

"Yeah? Well I have..." White Tiger paused before saying, "Nothing I want to talk about right now."

Matt paused. "Fair enough," he said, looking at Lana, "And you are going straight to Avalar once this is all over for some training."

"Where's Avalar?" asked Lana.

"Not in this universe...I hope," said Matt, "You'll find out."

"Well, I just hope things settle down after Spider-Man gets here," said White Tiger.

Just then, another dropship landed and Spider-Man walked out. "You guys will not believe the day I've had," he said. He paused when he noticed first the adult Snowbell and then the watery Lana. "Oh, you too, huh?" he asked.

* * *

Meanwhile, a small group were watching from a ridge, one beating their head on the ground, muttering, "Goddamn Lynch."

"Mr. Floating Potato Head better be right about this place," said Cyber.

"It's an EGIS mobile research zone. It'll have what we need," muttered Omnirus, still beating his head on the ground.

Kala said, "Come on, it's not that bad..." before Omnirus snapped "THEY HAVE AN EXTRA ONE!" pointing at the water Ekta.

"It had to be water," grumbled Leroy.

"Ah, I can take her," said Dark Start, forming a fireball in her hands.

"Don't be cocky. What did I say about Lynch?" snapped Omnirus, the others saying in a bored tone "He has a habit of surviving."

"All I'm saying is this better be the last place," said Cyber, "We've had to look all over the world."

"We'll need a distraction..." said Omnirus.

"Can it go boom?" asked Cyber.

"Yes, it can go boom," said Omnirus.

"Gooood," said Cyber, aiming at one of the empty dropships.

* * *

There's another chapter. This one steers rather far off from most Marvel material, even if there are frost giants. The next chapter is going to be mostly in media res and featuring more Marvel material. Keep an eye out for it and please review.


	10. Return to the Savage Land, Part 5

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 10: Return to the Savage Land, Part 5**

Omnirus stared in horror as Cyber and his companions, minus Kala charged towards the base. "I'll say this, your friends really get into the spirit," said Kala.

Omnirus facepalmed. "How did we end up in this situation?"

* * *

While Omnirus was glad to have fixed the glitch in his Omnitrix that trapped him in female form, it wasn't enough. He needed to upgrade, especially with the Lynches at a new power level. That said, he couldn't just walk into the Galvan Institute of Science and steal the blueprints.

Anyways, Omnirus needed the best genetics technology this planet had to offer to make any modifications to the Omnitrix, which narrowed down options quite a bit.

* * *

"Why not just break into Jumba's old lab?" said Cyber with a twitch.

Dark Start sighed, "That won;t work. The NSC control that system. Even you'd have trouble."

"Not to mention leaving this universe won't be as easy as getting in," said Leroy, "The Combine watch all the main portals."

"The Combine? They sound like seafood," giggled Cyber, the others sighing.

Omnirus said thoughtfully, "We need a dimension nobody would expect us."

"Unless you've gotten a spaceship, I don't think you really got anywhere to go," said Dark Start.

"Shut up. There's got to be a ship somewhere we can knick," said Omnirus annoyed. He sighed. "And we don't need a ship, Dark Start. We need parts for the evolution drive on this thing," he snapped, pointing to the Omnitrix.

"You sure you wanna mess with that?" asked Leroy.

"If Albedo can make it, so can I," said Omnirus.

"You don't know how he made it," said Leroy.

"Don't I?" asked Omnirus, tapping the side of his head, "Galvans have a photographic memory when it comes to technology. I have all the plans right up here."

"Ok...what's the plan?" said Dark Start smugly.

"I know of at least three organizations that could have the genetic technology I need to upgrade myself," said Omnirus before motioning to a display board, "We'll start with the easiest: Oscorp."

"Oscorp, isn't he some big shot villain?" said Cyber eagerly.

"Not anymore," said Dark Start, "The guy completely quit after he was cured of the Green Goblin the second time."

There was a murmur of agreement before the door behind Omnirus opened and Kala said calmly, "What about the Lynches?"

"If we time this right, they'll be away on some mission and won't be around to interfere," said Omnirus, "Anyways, these aren't places that SHIELD is likely to pay attention to."

Kala smirked at that. "Good...we could have some fun later," she said before glaring as Cyber made mock vomit noises.

"Maybe, if there's time," said Omnirus a little quickly.

"Aw..." pouted Kala before walking off.

Cyber sneered, "How long you gonna keep her?"

"This is not a long-term relationship," said Omnirus.

"She's useful though," said Dark Start calmly, adding, "We'd have never gotten past the lockdown in the vents if she hadn't melted the way out."

"You're just as capable of doing that," said Omnirus, "It'll mean more trouble for us the longer we keep her."

"It also means that draconic pain will pull his punches." snapped Leroy.

"Only when she's in firing range," said Omnirus, "Otherwise, he'll be after the rest harder than ever."

"Might be worth a laugh if you made her kill him," snickered Cyber.

"As if that'll ever happen," said Omnirus, "Trust me, the sooner she's gone, the better. Unless you want Matt to make the accident that gave you your new limbs look like a little tumble down the stairs."

Cyber glared, "That was an accident. I didn't set the fuse right."

Omnirus and Dark Start exchanged a glance. "Ok, gonna ask the opinion of the only other one here who isn't crazy," said Omnirus, "Dark Start, your thoughts?"

"I think she's a danger. If she reboots her memories, we'll have a pissed-off 700 series that suddenly remembers she isn't a medic. That said, she could make a good spy if the teams compromised," said Dark Start after a bit.

"Since when have any experiments been spies?" asked Omnirus.

"Isn't Nosy designed to be a spy?" asked Leroy.

"I said spy, not gossip monger," said Omnirus, "We're not really designed for subtlety."

"Except she could spy on Matt's team with a suitable cover," sighed Dark Start.

"The only way she'd do that is if she had her memories and if she had her memories, she wouldn't work with us," said Omnirus, "Kala is disposable goods, end of discussion."

"Well...use her while you have her then. She's a 700 series combat experiment," sneered Dark Start, leaning in and whispering, "And trust me, if she hadn't imprinted on you, she'd have killed all of us without breaking a claw. I would have."

"Turning back to business: Oscorp has pretty well-known shady dealings, particularly in the genetic experimentation area. It's produce more than its fair share of villains," said Omnirus, the display screen showing villains such as Venom, Lizard, Rhino, Vulture, and Carnage.

Dark Start laughed, "Oh please, those are the work of Otto Octavius."

"Yeah, he left Oscop long- Is that a kangaroo?" asked Leroy, noticing one of the villains.

Omnirus paused to look at the screen. "Huh, so it is. When did he appear? Anyways, Octavius was working on genetic experiments under Osborn's orders. The symbiotes at least were intended products. And I'd be rather surprised if Osborn didn't keep Octavius's confiscated notes and tech."

"So, all we need to do is find a black site that only Oscorp knows about, blast our way in, escape with the tech _all_ without attracting an Overwatch hit team," said Leroy.

"Not all the tech," said Omnirus, "There ought to be a way to narrow down what we need. Cyber?"

"There's only one place he'd keep it: under Oscorp Tower," said Cyber, suddenly all business, "It'll probably be accessed from his personal floor."

"Sounds just like him," said Leroy.

"Simple enough. We break in, hack the elevator and loot the place," said Omnirus.

"Simple indeed," agreed Dark Start.

"The rest of the parts seem simple. The last one could be a problem," said Dark Start.

"We'll see if we need anything more when we're finished," said Omnirus.

"You don't listen well, do you," said Dark Start.

"Ok, let's start planning this out," said Omnirus, "We should get in Osborn's office while he's out to lunch."

Cyber grinned, "Lunch? I keep hearing that New York does the best pizza."

Leroy perking up, "Pizza? Where?"

Dark Start put a paw to her forehead and groaned. This was going to be a growing headache. "ENOUGH!" she snapped, blasting the table with a flame orb. "Can we _please_ concentrate...or no pizza," she added, Leroy and Cyber looking horrified at that.

Deciding to capitalize on this, Omnirus said, "Whoever does the best work on this mission gets to choose the toppings."

Dark Start actually looked impressed as Cyber and Leroy got looks of concentration as Omnirus said, "This is actually one plan Miss Kala might be useful."

"How so?" asked Dark Start. "Fires make good distractions," said Omnirus.

* * *

Security at Oscorp Tower had seen it all. Lizards, people with robotic tentacles, symbiotes, the IRS, but a red koala was a new one. "Found it in the parking lot," said the guard holding it.

"Was it breathing fire or spitting acid?" asked another guard.

"No...just in a doorway, shivering," said the other, the first peering closely, "But it's gonna turn into some six foot tall monster and try to eat us...right?" The first guard shrugged before they both shivered.

"Somethings wrong with the universe. It's Sunday and no attack?" said the first.

"Yeah, this could be one of Octavius's traps. Just watch. It's gonna grow a coat of slime and go nuts," said the second.

There was a pause, the koala raising an eyebrow in confusion before the guards shivered. "This isn't normal," said the second nervously.

"Maybe she's a vanguard for an invasion from outer space," said the first guard.

The koala just rolled her eyes. Just what have these guys been through to make them that paranoid? She looked around, climbing onto the desk before seeing the fire alarm...just what she'd been told to hit. Creating a small ball of hot plasma in her hand, she threw it straight at the alarm.

"Oh thank God, she is evil," said one of the guards with relief as the alarms began to ring.

The koala rolled her eyes before shooting hot plasma at both of them. The two ran for it as more alarms began to ring. "Omnirus, honey, I think I have their attention now. Do we need survivors?" she asked pleasantly.

"People look for killers with a lot more determination than plain troublemakers," said Omnirus, "Just keep their feet hot."

"My pleasure, honey," said Kala happily, several bullets bouncing off her, Kala turning to see some more interesting opponents firing at her from the lifts.

* * *

Meanwhile, Omnirus and the other three were looking in Norman's office. "Swanky," said Dark Start, looking at a portrait of Norman Osborn.

"Don't get distracted. If he decides to, he has plenty of weapons which can go through us," hissed Omnirus angrily, looking at the walls for a switch or a keypad.

"You know, half the reason these things are here..." muttered Dark Start before moving the portrait.

Omnirus blinked, seeing a revealed keypad. "That is so cliche," he muttered, climbing up and looking at it, before keying in the correct code.

"How'd you know the right code?" asked Leroy.

"He left his fingerprints on the keys," said Omnirus.

"Nice," said Dark Start, a section of wall opening to reveal a lift, a calm female voice saying "Welcome, Mr Osborn." The experiments got onto the elevator which headed straight down. After a minute, the lift stopped, the voice saying, "Please remain still for biometric scan."

The experiments exchanged panicked looks at that. "Biometic scan invalid...please remain still for disintegration," said the voice, two guns folding down from the roof.

Cyber immediately extended a blaster from his right arm and blasted both guns. "Nearly forgot my gun's better than theirs," he said.

"Level one security breached...activating level two," said the computer, the doors opening.

"What's level two?" asked Leroy.

Several gliders flew into position before shredding the lift car.

"Oh," said Leroy before they started falling.

The glider drones approached slowly before one hovered to aim down, only for it to be sliced down the middle.

"So, do we have to stop at this floor or keep going down?" asked Dark Start.

The drones began firing again at that, a hiss heard below, the group looking down to see the floor was being flooded with acid...strong from the smell.

"Norman must really want people to stay out," said Leroy.

"Ya think? GET THESE TIN CANS!" snapped Omnirus, hitting his Omnitrix.

In a flash, he was in Ghostjaws form. "That was supposed to be Stinkgrade," he said, "But I can still work with this." He lunged at one drone and crushed it between his jaws.

Cyber, smirking, said, "So...Like that Ben kid's Omnitrix"

Omnirus paused and muttered, "Oh blitznak."

Another drone flew at him, only for Omnirus to pass through it, its battery in his jaws. Spitting out the battery, he said, "This is one of the reasons I need that upgrade."

"Escalating to level 3...3 minutes to removal to vacuum seal...sending emergency transmission to Mr Osborn."

"No time to lose," said Omnirus, "Let's get what we need and go."

More gliders came out of almost everywhere to hinder them as they searched. It seemed Osborn had alot of things in his basement...ranging from pieces of an Iron Man suit painted blue, white, and red to what looked like a gatling cannon.

"Where does he keep the biological stuff?" snapped Omnirus before his Omnitrix started beeping a cooldown warning. "Oh crap," muttered Omnirus as he turned back, just in time for a laser blast to knock him through a door...and into a storage room.

"Is it? Yes!" said Omnirus before hurrying in. He looked around quickly, seeing materials from as far away as the Tunguska strike, before seeing what he needed.

"Octavius's genetic extractor," said Omnirus, "Perfect for getting the essence out of any species. Or do a little DNA tailoring." He took a small box off his belt and shone a light on the extractor. The extractor disappeared into the light which went back into the box. Omnirus put the box back on his belt and called, "We got the gizmo. Let's go!"

"What about Kala?" called Dark Start as they scampered up the elevator shaft.

"With any luck? No way she could beat all the armed guards..." he began as they forced the door open to see a dozen dazed guards and Kala smirking on top of the pile with her arms crossed. "...at once..." said Omnirus

Cyber said, "Wow...is it wrong that she looks hot now?"

"That had better be a pun on her fire powers," said Dark Start.

Omnirus said awkwardly, "Yes...that..." Leroy nodding innocently...about as innocently as the puppy next to his poop. Dark Start sighed before blasting the other three with water orbs.

"Don't be jealous. I was designed to hit hard," said Kala, jumping down with a smug expression, Dark Start glaring.

"So, we getting pizza now?" asked Cyber.

"A brief lunch break then we need to get the next part," said Omnirus.

Kala walked over to Omnirus before saying, "Why not treat us girls?"

Cyber picked up Kala and threw her out a window. "WE EARNED THAT PIZZA!" he snapped.

Kala jumped back in, a grin on her face. "Oh, I've been wanting an excuse," she laughed. She picked up Cyber and threw him out another window, only for a grappling hook to snag her and drag her through.

Omnirus sighed. "Urgh...CYBER, STOP KILLING OUR NEW MEMBER!"

"Just a little rough and tumble, boss," called Cyber.

Kala jumped up. "It's not like he could have taken me. I was made too well," she taunted, "Now are we going to get that pizza or what?" She walked by the group, apparently unaware of the 'Kick Me' sign taped to her back.

Cyber smirked. "You 700's have forgotten how to have fun," he said as he scuttled after her.

* * *

The next place took a little more work to find. "Why are we poking around a subway station in Brooklyn?" asked Leroy.

"At least it's not the sewers," said Dark Start. Omnirus was busy taking measured paces and checking the bricks.

"Honey...is this some sort of hide and seek?" said Kala in a bored tone.

"More like a treasure hunt," said Omnirus.

"Then where's the X?" said Cyber with annoyance.

"Not an X..." said Omnirus before brushing some dust off a brick, "A Z." He pushed on the brick, making it click.

A section of brick wall moved away. "So when are we shot at?" said Kala smugly.

"I've thought of that," said Omnirus before pulling an extending wire from the back of Cyber's head and plugging it just inside the door.

"Hey, hey, heee-_S__he'll be coming round the mountain when she comes_, I HATE YOU! _S__he__'__ll be coming round the mountain when she cooooomes..._" sang Cyber, his eyes turning blue.

"No, no, that's not right," said Omnirus before twisting Cyber's antenna. That made Cyber break out into yodeling.

Said yodelling was punctuated by the odd death threat against Omnirus before he finally stopped. "Oh thank God," said Cyber desperately.

"That should turn off the traps in the halls," said Omnirus.

"I really...hate you...that singing got wrote to my root files," snapped Cyber.

"Would you rather be shot at?" asked Omnirus.

"YES!" snapped Cyber.

"Let's just get this done. Me and Leroy have something fun planned later," said Kala angrily, walking past them. "So whose secret base...is..." Kala paused when she saw a red insignia depicting a skull with six tentacles. "Hydra...ARE YOU NUTS?" she snapped, shaking Omnirus till his eyes rattled.

"Relax, Hydra is a mere shell of its former glory since the Red Skull is no longer in command," said Omnirus.

"Still...wait...Z...oh God, not the talking telly," she sighed.

"Who else would have the bioengineering tech to upgrade my Omnitrix?" asked Omnirus

"You mean this is Baron Zemo's lab?" asked Leroy.

"Yes,hence the Z!" snapped Kala angrily.

Leroy grinned, "Oh, this'll be good." Kala stomped down the tunnel to a blast door blocking the way and tearing it off its runners. "They learn so fast," he said.

"Let's hope she doesn't remember her lessons too well," said Omnirus.

"So? She's no longer that stuck-up brat anymore," said Leroy triumphantly.

"I don't count on it lasting long," said Omnirus.

"I was teaching her to act like a proper experiment like how Jumba would want," said Leroy, adding, "What did you think?" The others all suddenly coming down with coughs. "LET'S CATCH UP WITH HER!" shouted Omnirus a little too loudly.

* * *

A little while later, they were in a lab with several large glass tubes filled with some unknown green liquid. "Ok...which vial of kool aid do you need?" snapped Kala.

"Those aren't what I need," said Omnirus, "Zola ought to have what I need in his computer banks."

"Don't you mean Zemo?" asked Leroy.

"No, it's Zola. Try to keep up," said Omnirus.

"I am not having my head linked up to-" began Cyber before Leroy plugged him in and Cyber gibbered before singing 'Country Road' and even doing the dance. "I'll pay you anything to keep him going for a few minutes," said Dark Start to Omnirus, taking a photo of Cyber.

"I don't think it's doing anything to hack that-" started Omnirus before the computer came on. "Ok, let's see what we got here," said Omnirus.

But before he could hit the keyboard, an ugly face appeared on the screen and snapped, "Who is making zat infernal racket?!"

"Oh no, his jack goes through the user's music files, so someone here likes country western," said Leroy evilly at the screen, Cyber screaming "Unplug me you trogs or so help me!"

"Ach...you are not ze first intruders...some moron in red unt black broke in unt installed zem," snapped the face.

"Wait, what's Zola doing here?" asked Omnirus, "He's supposed to be at the bottom of the ocean."

"Every genius knows he should make backup copies of his greatest files," said Zola, "Even if zis version of me does nozing more zan make sure Zola's secrets are not pilfered by simpler minds. Such as yourselves."

"Hey, we have supercomputers for brains," snapped Leroy.

"If zat vere true, you'd know vhat you vere getting into," said Zola. Suddenly, the glass containers started bubbling with what looked like dough.

"The hell is that?" snapped Cyber, aiming his weapons at it.

The dough formed into humanoid creatures, though they looked neither handsome nor intelligent. "My synthezoids shall make quick vork of you," said Zola as the containers opened.

"Are we being attacked by potato people?" sneered Kala, throwing several plasma blasts at them. The synthezoids splattered, covering the area in doughy ickiness. "You need to invest in better security," said Kala. However, the chambers produced a new batch.

"Ze first vave isn't durable, but zere's alvays more vhere zey came from," said Zola.

"Oh nuts," muttered Dark Start as several new synthezoids formed and charged.

Kala threw more orbs, but these synthezoids didn't splatter as much. "Did I forget to mention each vave adapts to vhat destroyed ze last vun?" asked Zola.

"Omnirus...how much longer?" snapped Cyber.

"Not too long, now that I know where to look," said Omnirus before going into one of the chambers and ripping open the base of it.

Zola snapped, "Stop zat! Synthezoids, stop zat furry rat!"

Cyber laughed maniacally as he opened fire on the synthezoids. Leroy attempted to punch one out, getting stuck. "Gah...want to destroy but it's like punching a sponge...EVIL!" he snapped.

The synthezoid lifted Leroy up and started to squeeze him. "Well, if ya can't beat them...eat them!" snapped Leroy before biting off the synthazoid's head and eating it. The synthezoid collapsed into a lifeless puddle of dough. Leroy gagged and said, "Tastes like month-old poi."

"Who told you za-I mean zat is nonsense," snapped Zola.

Omnirus sighed and said, "Let me show you how to do it." Open his mouth, four long green tongues shot out, grabbed a synthezoid, and dragged it back into his mouth where he swallowed it. His stomach glowed green before he spat out a huge glob of green goo that hit the other synthezoids and exploded, taking out several chambers as well.

"Not everyone's part interstellar glutton!" snapped Dark Start.

"Don't focus on the spawn, destroy the spawners," said Omnirus, "Basic video game rules. Ugh, they _did_ taste like month-old poi."

Dark Start and Kala sneered, Kala saying "Go long?" Dark Start smirking and throwing Kala at the cluster of tanks, Kala's body encasing in flames just before impact.

"No! Stop zat, you little gremlins!" snapped Zola.

"Hey...he called us gremlins," said Dark Start tauntingly.

"Typical German," said Kala.

"Actually, I am Sviss," said Zola.

"Who cares?" asked Leroy.

"Ok, I have what I need," called Omnirus, the experiments gathering round the computer.

"Ok...what do we do with Talkie Telly?" sneered Cyber.

"He's only one backup," said Omnirus, "Zola would have more. Besides, wouldn't be fair if he was stuck guarding a ruined lab."

"With one extra touch," said Kala, pulling out an iPod.

"You vouldn't dare," said Zola.

The experiments exchanged gazes before starting to cackle evilly, till Dark Start said, "Omnirus, you know I've not trusted Kala since you brought her into the gang. I say she does it."

"Let's see what she's got," said Omnirus.

Kala smirked, sauntering over and first, plugging the charger in, which got some approval...meant it wouldn't stop, before she reached for the play button and paused. "Cover your ears," she warned.

Omnirus's eyes widening in horror, the others looking confused before Kala folded her ears down and hit play…

* * *

"So, how long do you think Zola will last?" asked Kala.

"Well I 'accidentally' disabled his self shutdown system. How long till the others stop screaming when we try to turn the radio on?" asked Omnirus, the others of their team staring the thousand-yard gaze and shaking, Dark Start muttering "The screeching...not...possible..." except for leroy who was giggling to himself and rocking back and forth.

"What did you get from Zola, anyways?" asked Kala.

"The adaptors for his synthezoids," said Omnirus, "After all, what is evolution if not adaptation?"

"You do realise Lynch could still cook you like an egg, right?" warned Kala.

* * *

"Ok...our last target is AIM..." said Omnirus, showing a few photos.

"Aim...don't they just sell stuff like this? Rob a bank or two and buy it," said Leroy.

"They tend to be choosy about their customers, especially if they're aliens," said Omnirus.

"They said no, didn't they?" teased Kala.

* * *

"Let's say the last time I went there, I...made a scene at customer's service," said Omnirus.

* * *

2 days ago...

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WON'T SERVE ME? Just cause I needed a box to get on the desk..." roared Omnirus.

"Sir, it is company policy to not provide service to illegal aliens," said the receptionist in a bored tone.

"Hey, that's just wrong," said Omnirus.

The receptionist said, "I meant illegal aliens from other planets."

Omnirus paused before shrugging. "Fair point. Look, I have the cash. I robbed a dozen ATMs to meet the price," he said, lifting up the 'box' he'd been on, a bag twice as big as him, the receptionist simply raising an eyebrow.

"That is still not going to work. Our surplus Nanotech repair module has already been sold and our remaining one is in use. There is a waiting period of 1 year if you wish to wait," said the receptionist in the same infuriating tone, before squishing Omnirus's hands into the desk as he slammed them palm down.

Omnirus's eyes watering before he tried, "And...who was it...sold to?"

"That would be her, over there," said the receptionist, gesturing with her head.

Omnirus turning to see a helmetless scientist leading out Megan and two anthropomorphic animals, one looked like a peregrine...but the other one looked like a lioness, though with a thick mane. More noticeably was the scorpion's tail. "MEGAN!" he snapped.

He stomped up as Megan turned, Megan saying "Omnirus...what brings you here?" in a tone that was a little too friendly.

"You have something of mine," growled Omnirus.

"You knew I was here and didn't look me up? I'm hurt," said Megan.

"I need that nanotech," said Omnirus.

"So do I," said Megan, "You have any idea how hard it is to clothe these minions?"

"You're a sorceress. Summon some brownies to tailor them," said Omnirus in an annoyed tone.

"Oh...a little 'short' on time?" sneered Megan, the bird and lioness taking a step forward before she raised a hand. "You're not getting this. But you're welcome to try. My friends are very protective," she warned in a serious tone.

"So be it," said Omnirus before slapping his Omnitrix. In a flash, he transformed into Frankenvine.

"Oh lovely...Falcore? Prune him," said Megan, the bird lunging and making several swipes with its wing arms.

"Ha. Didn't feel a thing," said Frankenvine before suddenly he fell in neat slices.

"Hmm, chopped salad," said Megan, "If I only I remembered the dressing."

Omnirus glared before timing out and reaching for his Omnitrix again only to feel a stinger at his throat "Say the word, mistress," said the lioness, coldly before the receptionist said "No killing...not even club soda gets it out of the carpet."

Omnirus was about to snap that stinger off when he was suddenly picked up. "And you...get out," snapped the receptionist.

Omnirus glared. "Get off me you..." he began, the others not seeing what he was looking at before he said weakly "Yes, ma'am."

* * *

"And that's when I bit her and took out the 20 strong mutant team she called for," said Omnirus proudly to the others.

Dark Start said carefully, "Mutant...commandos..."

"So they blacklisted you," said Kala.

"Oh yeah...and Megan's got the only spare. I'm proud of the kid, she made some tough minions," Omnirus admitted.

"So are we going to steal it from her?" asked Kala.

"Not a chance. Bird boy sliced through Frankenvine's armor like it was wet paper. Unless any of you are volunteering to go in first," said Omnirus darkly.

"So what is the plan?" asked Dark Start.

"We're going straight to the manufacturer," said Omnirus.

"We're gonna attack AIM? What if they have a receptionist on guard?" laughed Cyber.

Omnirus grabbed Cyber with his tongues before swallowing him. He swilled him around for a few seconds before spitting him back out, covered in awful green slime. "Anyone else wanna make jokes?" snapped Omnirus, the others shaking their heads. "Ok, they said they're using the nanite device themselves, meaning it's probably in their main lab," said Omnirus.

"And where in the world would that be?" asked Leroy.

"Deeper inside, I did manage to nab this off Megan," sneered Omnirus, holding up a leaflet which opened up into a map, apparently showing where customers could and could not go.

"Think AIM guards its vent as well as every other place?" asked Leroy.

"Only one way to find out," said Omnirus with a grin.

"I...need...a...bath..." groaned Cyber.

* * *

Kala and Dark Start looked up at the main doors of the lab. They were the distraction, as there was certain some sort of alarm the receptionist could see, especially around the vents, where the others were. "So, what do you have in mind?" asked Kala.

"A catfight is a surefire way to grab attention," said Dark Start.

"It would, but I don't think we're anyone's types," said Kala, indicating their small, furry bodies.

"There's always the poor lost puppy thing. Worked for 626 more than once," suggested Dark Start.

"I think these people would be more interested in taking the puppy apart than caring for it," said Kala, "Besides, I already did that one at Oscorp."

"Good old-fashioned rampage?" suggested Dark Start.

"Kinda, obvious, isn't it?" asked Kala.

"Maybe just a fight between supervillains," said Dark Start.

"But where are we going to get-" started Kala before Dark Start hit her with an earth orb.

* * *

Omnirus listened as several distant booms were heard. "And we're off. Men, let's do this," he said, the group heading further in, to a hatch, seeing the guards get a message and run towards the entrance. "Oh, and I shouldn't have to remind you, but don't touch anything unless you know what it is. We don't want to start a grey goo catastrophe," said Omnirus.

The trio landed on the floor, several suited technicians scattering with yells of panic, one running for the alarm. However, Cyber blasted the alarm before the technician could reach it. "No alarms, egghead," he giggled, pinning the guy.

"You'll never get out alive," snapped the technician as Omnirus quickly found the nanite device, tearing it out the wall.

"Wow, that was easier than even I expected," said Omnirus.

Just then the doors burst open and a voice snapped, "What is going on in here?!" Omnirus, Leroy, and Cyber turned and stared in bewildered fascination. It appeared to be a giant head with tiny arms and legs sitting in a hover chair.

"You...you were the alien that attempted to steal from one of AIM's customers. Now you come to steal from your intellectual superior?" snapped the head, "I, MODOK, have not built up AIM's industry to have it robbed by extraterrestrial vermin. You shall pay dearly for your transgressions!" When the experiments didn't respond, MODOK asked in an annoyed tone, "Are you even listening?"

"He's like...a flying Mr. Potato Head," said Leroy distantly.

"Yeah...he's just missing the glasses and big nose," said Cyber faintly.

MODOK glared before firing a blast that sent the experiments flying like ten pins. "My abnormal features are the price I pay for my vast intelligence and considerable mental powers," said MODOK before several desks lifted off the ground. "I think that's a fair tradeoff," he said smugly before the desks threw themselves the experiments.

"Oh blitznak!" yelped Leroy, the group dodging as more things were thrown.

"I was expecting to fight tech, but not like this," said Omnirus.

"You cannot stand against MODOK, but it will be interesting to see what makes you run," sneered MODOK.

"Run? Good idea," said Omnirus as he activated his Omnitrix, "Going XLRWolf." He pressed it and was transformed into Stinkgrade. "Ha, I knew reverse psychology would work," said Stinkgrade.

He twitched as the Omnitrix flashed and he swapped to XLRWolf, a small line of text on the Omnitrix saying "Laugh this off., smartass." "I really need to fix this thing," said XLRWolf with annoyance.

"Let's just run before Mr. Potato Head does something wooorrrrrr..." began Leroy before his eye crossed.

"For alien lifeforms, you aren't as great as you boast to be," said MODOK.

"Hey, Leroy's just a bit thick, that's all," snapped XLRWolf, before holding up the nanite device. "Want this?" he teased.

"Give that back, you thieving cur!" snapped MODOK before blasting at XLRWolf.

"Missed me, oooh so close...wanna try again?" taunted XLRWolf, shooting back and forth between shots. "You know what's the biggest disadvantage of a big head?" asked XLRWolf before zooming up close to MODOK, "Big headaches." He split his muzzle open and blasted MODOK with his sonic howl.

MODOK yelled, floating back, trying to clutch his head. "And you have the disadvantage of gloating," he snapped, blasting XLRWolf.

Omnirus twitched, feeling MODOK worming around in his head for something to use against him...blitznak to that. He grabbed a canister and threw it at MODOK with a yell of "OUT OF MY HEAD!" The canister bounced off the top of MODOK's head, making the floating head let out a yelp of pain. "Aw, arms too tiny to put an icebag on your head?" taunted Omnirus.

"Foolish animals...you dare attack me?" snapped MODOK.

The mental blast having reverted Omnirus back to normal, he was waiting for the Omnitrix to recharge. "It wasn't in the plan, but we're holding our own, aren't we?" he said.

"Leroy's still a veggie," called Cyber, Leroys eyes just black and white spirals, Leroy making faint burbling noises.

"You're the tech expert. Do something!" snapped Omnirus.

"He's not a robot," snapped Cyber.

"He's still a cyborg. We're surrounded by high tech. Figure something out!" snapped Omnirus.

Cyber looked around for something not broken before yelling at Leroy, "Wake up or no coconut cake."

Leroy twitching before his eyes went back to normal and his hissede "Who took coconut caaaaake?"

Cyber pausing before pointing at MODOK. "He did," he said childishly.

"QUEESTA!" yelled Leroy, jumping at MODOK, who only hovered a few feet to the left, causing Leroy to crash into a computer and get stuck.

Omnirus just sighed. "I am so sorry about him," he said before realising a battle was still on and using the classic experiment move known as the 'facehugger'.

However, MODOK just blasted him away before he got close. "Oh please," said MODOK dismissively, "You're behaving even more brutishly than at the start of this."

There was a beep from where Omnirus landed and a green glow. "About time. Now don't screw me over again," said Omnirus before hitting his Omnitrix. This time, he turned into Stinkgrade and stayed that way.

"Finally! Now to deal with Mr. Potato Head," Stinkgrade sneered.

Stinkgrade flew at MODOK, only to splatter on a forcefield that MODOK had around him. "Do you really think I'd let you get that close to me, insect?" sneered MODOK.

Cyber finally paused, finding a canister marked 'experimental...do not open it, this means you AIM Bob.' In Cyber's head, a saner version of himself was saying 'This could be a very dangerous device. Before we should even consider using it, we must study to find out what it does and what precautions... And you just decided to eat it.'

Cyber burped, the rational voice saying "That's it...I quit...you're on your own" the voice getting fainter before there was the sound of a slamming door.

"Needed salt," said Cyber before burping.

"Oh tell me you didn't." said Stinkgrade, he and MODOK staring open mouthed

"No creature could possibly that stupid," said MODOK.

"Oh, he's not stupid. He's totally bonkers," said Stinkgrade.

"I feel tingly," said Cyber happily, his plasma blaster getting a blue glow.

"DOWN!" yelled Stinkgrade before partially merging with MODOK's hoverchair and forcing him down.

Cyber looked down his blaster and got a singed face as a blast of blue blackened his face. "Oooooh...white noise disintegrator...I LOVE IT!" he giggled, aiming and firing in random directions before hearing a faint noise from ground level. "Cyber? Be a pal and stop shooting the support pillars." in Stinkgrade's voice

"You miserable little imp!" snapped MODOK, flying up and charging his head blaster, "I shall reduce to your component molecules!"

Just then, Stinkgrade leapt up and fully merged with MODOK's hoverchair, giving it a more cocoon-like experience. "Ok, let's settle you down," said Stinkgrade as he started making adjustment.

"No, hehe, stop it. heehee, you're-you're wrecking my-" started MODOK before bursting into uncontrollable high-pitched laughter.

"Can we go now? I wanna test this thing on Lynch," cackled Cyber happily.

"Just a second more...there," said Stinkgrade before separating from MODOK, letting him crash on the floor.

"You're going to pay for-" said MODOK before grunting as he tried to get off the floor. But with his anti-gravity generator disabled and his limbs too small, all he could do was pathetically rock back and forth.

"Sit this one out," sneered Stinkgrade before timing out back to Omnirus. "Ok, let's go. Cyber, call the girls and tell them to abort."

"Wait! You can't leave me like this!" yelled MODOK.

"I don't see why we shouldn't," said Omnirus.

"Perhaps we can work something out," said MODOK, "Perhaps you are in need of more tech."

"Unless you have an evolutionary transmutator, I don't think so," said Omnirus.

"I don't have one...but I know where you can find one," said MODOK.

The group paused, Omnirus turning, "Oh, do tell..."

"A new group chased my scientists out of a region in the arctic called the Savage Land. They appear to be using a transmutator," Modok said.

"Is that so?" asked Omnirus, "And where exactly is the Savage Land?"

"Not in the Arctic," said Cyber, "The Antarctic. Not the South Pole itself, but it can't be far off."

"Thanks Modok," said Omnirus, jumping up and throwing a laptop at the villain's feet, "Now you can fix yourself."

"Now let's find the girls before they draw any attention from real heroes," said Cyber. "Just a sec," said Omnirus before pulling Leroy out of the computer.

The group walked carefully towards the entrance, dazed guards seen everywhere . "Ok...if the receptionist has them, we just run," said Omnirus carefully, before all three tensed up at laughter from the entrance hall. "Oh, that better not be what I think it is," said Omnirus.

The group peered out to see Kala, Dark Start and the receptionist sharing some tea "...and I swear...he was a lady for 2 years," said Dark Start, the receptionist laughing.

"They're not talking about me," said Omnirus through gritted teeth.

"Really? I don't think anyone else of us was a girl when we first teamed up," said Cyber cheerfully.

"It was not that long," snapped Omnirus.

"Was it?" asked Leroy, "Kinda lost track of time, what with the different rates it passes in-"

"SILENCE!" screamed Omnirus before covering his mouth as the receptionist snapped "Who said that?"

"Nobody, nobody," Omnirus whispered desperately.

A shadow fell across him and he looked up slowly to see the receptionist. "Didn't I throw you out?" she asked icily.

"I had an appointment with your boss," said Omnirus.

"I'm sure." said the receptionist, grabbing Omnirus by the neck and throwing him at a flat trajectory through the wall _next_ to the entrance. "Everyone else gets to walk out..." she said, smirking as the other experiments turned into blurs that exited the building.

* * *

After a long flight, the experiments had landed in the Savage Land. Finding the piece of tech they were looking for was not very easy in this prehistoric jungle.

"This place stinks. My joints are rusting," snapped Cyber, blasting a mosquito the size of a small dog.

"How can there be any technology in this place?" asked Kala.

"Technology is what keeps this place from freezing over," said Omnirus.

"Yeah...and how long would we have to run before everything refroze if we broke it?" said Leroy in a rare show of intelligence, everyone turning to look at what was left of their ride.

"I told you not to let Cyber drive," said Kala.

"We're not after the climate controls. We need an evolutionary transmutator," said Omnirus, "There's one down here. I'm picking up its energy signature."

"And where is it?" snapped Kala.

Omnirus looking at the view. "In...the middle of a patch of skunks and flowers with biohazard symbols…" muttered Omnirus in confusion.

"Uh...any other places?" asked Dark Start.

"Looks like its been used in two cities...too..." muttered Omnirus, Leroy wandering over to some flowers

"Well, it shouldn't be that hard to get it from a bunch of skunks, right?" asked Dark Start.

"Yeah, right Leroy? ...erm...Leroy?" asked Omnirus.

Leroy grunted and turned around, looking a bit more brutish before with a considerable overbite, lower forehead, and larger, hunched shoulders.

The group blinked before going back to planning. "Looks fine to me," said Dark Start.

Kala said, "But he has-"

Omnirus grabbing her and snapping, "HE...LOOKS...FINE! I'm not getting distracted by killer bird men and demonic receptionists this time."

Leroy grunted before grabbing Kala by her antenna and dragging her away. "Ok, you have five seconds to let me go, mister," said Kala in an annoyed tone. The others watched as she was dragged out of sight before jumping back as a literal mushroom cloud rose and Kala walked round the corner, dusting herself off. "We're fixing him," she said darkly.

Omnirus said in a squeak, "Yes, ma'am..." a blackened Leroy staggering after Kala.

"Getting too much for you, isn't she?" teased Dark Start.

Look, it was one night and she spent it all playing the Pokemon card game," snapped Omnirus sulkily.

"Ok, that was the last thing I would have thought of," said Dark Start.

"Get your mind out the gutter. I have some standards," sighed Omnirus, checking the scanner, "Ok...given what happened to our new cave experiment, I vote we avoid the flowers."

"Ok, where's the other transmutator?" asked Dark Start.

"It's...moving?" said Omnirus, puzzled.

"It's what? That means something has it. If it's in the stomach of a _S__pinosaurus_, I quit. I saw that film," snapped Cyber.

"It's not in a stomach...I hope," said Omnirus.

"That was doubt!" snapped Cyber.

"It's your fault we don't have a getaway car," countered Omnirus.

"Hey...if you weren't lovey dovey with your card partner," sneered Cyber.

"I wonder if those flowers could affect a cyborg?" asked Omnirus wonderingly.

"Let's just get the damn thing," snapped Cyber.

* * *

As it turned out, the transmutator was not moving because it was in the stomach of a dinosaur. Rather, it was in the possession of a certain wall-crawler. "Why on Earth would he be down here?" asked Dark Start as they watched Spider-Man get off the dropship and into the EGIS lab.

"And why would he go into the camp of the only people with the firepower to take us out?" moaned Omnirus, sobbing against a tree from stress, "This is all Lynch's fault! It has to be!"

"How could it possibly be his fault?" asked Kala.

"He has a...an aura of villain bad luck. Just being near him makes plans come unstuck," snapped Omnirus in a paranoid voice till Cyber, with a deadpan look slapped him across the back of your head.

"We can at least check what they're up to first," he said, causing the others to shudder...when Cyber was making sense, everyone was in trouble.

* * *

There's another chapter. As you can see, this one is mostly flashbacks to explain what Omnirus's gang has been up to and why they're down in the Savage Land. It also ties in with the Ultimate Spider-Man show. Though MODOK and AIM are more connected with Avengers Assemble, but they're still in the same universe. But tomorrow, we'll be focusing on Omnirus's attack in the present. Keep an eye out for it and please review.


	11. Return to the Savage Land, Part 6

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 11: Return ****to the Savage Land, Part 6**

"Well, true-believers, I would think that things would settle down a bit after we've all been brought back together from various crazy adventures in the Savage Land. But apparently, someone wants something from here and isn't going to ask nicely for it."

* * *

"COVER!" yelled a trooper as the blasted airship flipped onto its side, EGIS troopers firing in the direction of the shooter, Matt drawing his own blaster and Lana's armor clipping some sort of rifle over her hand.

Several energy blasts shot out in a random pattern, creating a lot of explosions.

"Friends of yours?" snapped Matt at Dr Karisa.

"Nobody I know. The other factions learnt the hard way to stay out of ours," said Dr. Karisa.

Several fireballs were shot, more directly towards them. "Hey...I know those fireballs." said Matt in confusion. Just then, a solid ball of earth was launched and hit Matt directly in the stomach.

"Get the device!" came a familiar call, Matt sitting up in a dazed state to see several experiments running down the hill towards the base.

"Oh, not them," groaned Matt, "Ow, my diaphragm." He focussed on a red-furred Stitch, albeit holding a club and with overbite, running at him. "Oh please," he muttered, lining up his shot and blasting it flying back as it leapt.

"Guys, it's Omnirus and his goof troop, business as usual!" he yelled, before Cyber tackled him. "Cyber, someone finally lent you a hand," Matt smirked before blasting him.

Then Leroy leapt in and tackled Chris. "Does Leroy look more brutish than usual?" asked Chris.

"Savage wildflower?" suggested Spider-Man.

"Makes sense," said Chris, "Could someone get one of those ice age skunks?"

There was a scream of "NOOO! HE'S ACTUALLY USEFUL NOW!" before Omnirus tackled Chris.

"Omnirus, you got your Y chromosome back," said Chris casually.

"Yes, about time, and now I'm at my full pow-" began Omnirus before there was a 'dunk' and, his expression not changing, Omnirus fell sideways to reveal Leroy, who then lunged at Chris.

"On second thought, I think I prefer the Leroy who's housetrained," said Omnirus. He turned to see a person in a lab coat running for the lab, before smirking. "Now who would happen to have an evolutionary transmutator?" he asked rhetorically before shifting into Snare-Mutt and going after her.

* * *

Dr Karia skidded round the corner, running for the communications room. A few squads of the EGIS elite would deal with these pests. Then she heard something roar behind her. "That almost sounds like a Vulpimancer," she muttered to herself.

She turned to see some sort of hybrid tackle her down. She struggled against what felt like living linen bandages. The hybrid roared in her face, which sounded sort of interrogative. "Get off me, you paper-mache mongrel!" she snapped.

The creature tilted its head before changing into a small experiment. "Unless you want me to turn into something nastier, I want a cure to those damn flowers and you to order your men to blast Matt, his friends and those costumed weirdos," snapped Omnirus.

"The cure, I can provide," said Karisa, "But I'm not about to shoot someone who's helped me in the back for no good reason."

"Would your life be enough? Cure first," snapped Omnirus.

Dr. Karisa sighed before pulling out an inhaler mask. "Fine. I've already made a big batch of these anyways," she said before shoving it at Omnirus.

"I don't need that," laughed Omnirus.

Karisa shrugged. "Your nose," she said, sealing the airlock, before it opened into a room with faint purple smoke everywhere.

"Doesn;t look so ba-aaaaack!" Said Omnirus, gagging as he got a noseful, though sadly too slow as the door shut.

"Dinnertime," said Karisa, into an intercom on the other side of the airlock, Omnirus managing to get his breath back a little, before hearing several skitters from the grass.

"Now what?" snapped Omnirus.

"Oh, its dinnertime," said Karisa smugly, Omnirus taking notice that the airlock door was rated for warships.

"What's in here?" he asked, keeping his voice level.

"The antidote for the savage wildflower," said Karisa.

"Ok...yes...what's the antidote?" said Omnirus, jumping as several snapping branches were heard, finishing "...that requires an armored door to keep them in..."

"A simple natural chemical," said Karisa.

Omnirus heard a snap before he said "It's right behind me, isn't it?" before he turned to be nose to nose with a giant skunk with dentistry at home on sharks. "Oh no," Omnirus said in a small voice before the skunk pounced.

"Get off me, you overgrown weasel!" snapped Omnirus before throwing the skunk away. "HAH! It takes alot better than that to get me," scoffed Omnirus at Karisa, not noticing the long grass vanishing under a forest of skunk heads, all growling. He turned finally to see all the skunks. "Erm...I think I have my sample now," he said quickly.

Karisa grinning darkly, "I did say it was feeding time."

* * *

With the revelation that it was Omnirus's crew of experiments attacking, Matt's priorities shifted. If there was anyone who can restore Kala's memories, it had to be him. Getting to her was another matter though.

"Kala, get back here and listen!" snapped Matt, dodging the chaos. The only clue he got to where she was were the fireballs being thrown.

Matt finally got a glimpse of her, firing at a mech's fuel tank as it tried to blast her, only for the bullets to bounce off. Kala had never been bulletproof as far as he knew.

"Ok, just a little plasma burst to stun her," muttered Matt as he took aim. He fired the shot, the orb shooting forward and hitting her, her head whipping round to...growl at him, a action that made Matt pause. "Er, Kala?" asked Matt.

"Na Divo Koda?" snapped Kala, Matt's translator changing it to "Who the hell are you?"

"Kala, it's me, Matt. Don't you recognize me?" asked Matt.

"Never seen you before," snapped Kala, extending her extra arms and firing 4 fireballs at Matt

Matt ducked down quickly and muttered, "I'm gonna twist Omnirus's head off."

"Don't you touch my bushi bu!" snapped Kala, lunging at him.

"Bushi bu?" asked Matt, feeling both offended and revolted.

He paused as the translation came on, the bottom falling out his stomach...before Kala's fists sent him flying.

Matt went flying for quite some distance before he was grabbed out of the air by Spider-Man. "You ok?" he asked.

Matt snarled, his eyes bloodshot. "Not till I hang Omnirus on my wall," he snarled, transforming to his anthro form and taking off, scanning the battlefield, before spotting his prey...

* * *

Omnirus ran out the habitat emergency exit, screaming before slamming the blastdoor shut and leaning on it. "Never...badmouth...skunks...again..." he panted, twitching before holding up the sample he'd "That should be enough to get Leroy back to normal. Now where is that transmutator?" asked Omnirus.

He looked up in time to see a burst of blue flame heading for him. "Not now," said Omnirus with annoyance before jumping to one side.

"OMNIRUS! YOU'RE DEAD!" roared Matt, swooping down and passing Omnirus, leaving three shallow slashes in the experiment's side.

Omnirus winced and grasped his side. "Over one trashed lab?" he asked, "Or is it about the package I sent?"

"You took my girlfriend, you little slime!" roared Matt, before he swooped down again, Omnirus ducking the wing aimed at him before, hearing a creak, turned to see a lamp post that had been in the way fall down, neatly sliced.

"Ok, need some armor now," said Omnirus, hitting his Omnitrix and turning into Eye Bolt.

A hail of plasma bolts slammed into him at that before Matt tackled him and, in one smooth movement spun and threw Omnirus into some storage containers. Omnirus quickly curled into a ball before shooting several eye lasers at Matt.

Matt glared, walking forward, ignoring the wounds and welts from the blast. "I'm gonna rip you apart, no matter what form you're in," Matt snarled, his scales getting a darker look, even a few shots from the EGIS troopers rifles shooting towards him and getting absorbed.

Eye Bolt responded by hitting Matt with an ice beam until he was in a solid block of ice at least five feet thick. "Odd, he didn't even try to dodge," said Eye Bolt. But then cracks started to appear in the ice block with steam coming out. "Well, that's my cue to go," said Eye Bolt before rolling off.

He was tossed off his feet as the ice block exploded to show an energy being in the same of said dragon before it said in an echoing voice, "Your continued existence is void, Omnirus. You tampered with my fellow elemental."

The only response was a fire blast as Eye Bolt rolled away. "C'mon, c'mon, where is that transmutator?" he muttered.

He yelped as a hand made of plasma picked him up. "Any last words?" said the elemental, before Eye Bolt fired a blast into its 'eyes', if the two white orbs at eye level were any indication, the elemental staggering back and firing randomly before turning back into Matt the dragon.

"Now to get-" started Eye Bolt before two web blasts hit two of his eyes. "Hey!" he snapped as Spider-Man swung down.

"Going somewhere?" asked Spider-Man.

"Nope, found what I was looking for," said Eye Bolt blasting Spider-Man's hands with ice beams. Eyebolt reached down to grab the small box that was dropped. "Everyone, leg it. We got what we wanted," he laughed, looking at Matt who was clutching his eyes and said, "I'll take good care of Kala." leaning back as Matt swiped. Curling into ball form again, he rolled away.

Matt blinked, his eyes healed before he looked around. "Where is he?" he snarled, turning his head back and forth.

"He went that way, I think," said Spider-Man, gesturing with his frozen hand.

Matt sighed, sending a faint flame out that melted the ice before seeing Karisa. "There's no way that rat set up camp unnoticed. Why didn't you tell me he was here?" snapped Matt, picking her up. "Are you in on it? ANOTHER EXECUTIVE GENETICS PLOT?" before he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Matt, calm down," said Spider-Man, "Losing your temper isn't going to help anyone."

"He took Kala. He's dead," snarled Matt, before his legs were webbed up.

"Kala isn't gone for good," said Spider-Man, "You two were way too close for her to forget you that easily."

"I saw her eyes. She didn't know me at all," said Matt in a low voice.

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to recover from amnesia," said Spider-Man.

"I know, I've seen it...but nothing was left. She's hooked up with Omnirus...I lost her," said Matt darkly, his hands clenching.

"And I thought I lost Connors for good," said Spider-Man, "But he came back. You can't give up hope yet."

"He took her...HE TOOK HER...I'LL KILL HIM!" snapped Matt.

"Oh, give it a rest," snapped Chris, "This isn't the first time you 'lost her forever'. And for all the tantrums you have about them, you don't put nearly as much effort into getting her back. So are you going to rant and rave about it or are you actually going to get her?"

Matt glared with a growl before snarling "Fine...but I get to kill him..."

"Then get after him before he gives you the slip," said Chris.

* * *

"Ok...we got the stupid box," snapped Leroy, rubbing his head as they walked through the forest

"So how are you supposed to put that thing in your Omnitrix anyways?" asked Dark Start.

Omnitrix paused, before saying in a dull voice, "Shut up."

"You dragged us all the way down here for a gizmo you can't even use?" asked Kala.

"Look, I just need to get the right part out of this thing," said Omnirus as he opened up one side of the device.

He looked at the wires before poking one, causing a buzz, the words 'Do not touch again!' flashing urgently on the screen.

"Uh, are you sure you know what you're doing?" asked Kala nervously.

"Don't break my concentration, woman," said Omnirus, "This is extremely high tech here."

There was another buzz, the screen saying 'She'd have better luck.' Omnirus twitching to look at the serial number which said 'North Star'.

"Uh, you ok, boss?" asked Cyber.

"Just fine," said Omnirus a little forcibly, "Do me a solid and hold this, will you?" He handed the transmutator over to Cyber. Cyber took it, before Omnirus screamed and attacked a tree.

Cyber looked at the transmutator and said, "Hey, I think I see your problem."

Omnirus stopped his attacking the tree and screamed, "DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

A blue beam shot out, bouncing around as everyone dived for cover. It briefly hit Leroy who talked with a posh English accent before the beam hit him again and turned him back before it hit Kala.

The others turned to look at Kala. "Guys, I don't feel so good..." groaned Kala before she started crusting all over her body. In about 30 seconds, she was a large, slightly pulsing cocoon.

"Well...you think if we run to the Combine territories we'll get far enough away from Matt?" said Dark Start.

"Maybe she'll come out of her cocoon first," said Leroy.

"I get the feeling we won't want to be here when that happens, so Cyber, stop poking it," said Omnirus.

"Hey, I'll poke this if I want to," snapped Cyber. Dark Start smacked him upside the head.

A angry roar sounded nearby. "I got a great idea. Let's work out how to fit this somewhere else," said Omnirus urgently.

"Good plan," said Dark Start. There was a hiss at that. "Cyber that's really childish," said Dark Start warningly.

Cyber said "I didn't..." before everyone looked up to see a giant spider on the tree above them, a tiny one going, in a high-pitched voice 'Hello'.

Now, anyone would have fled from a giant spider just from the sight of it. But Omnirus had too many experiences with the spiderbots. "SPIDER! HIDE YOUR KIDNEYS!" he screamed, running for it, the spider scratching its head with a leg as the others ran after Omnirus. It wasn't even like it had done anything.

"Kidneys or not, we probably don't want to stick around get our fluids sucked out," said Dark Start.

They looked back to see the giant spider scuttle down to poke at the cocoon before grabbing it and scuttling back up the tree. "The Combine won't be far enough," Cyber muttered.

"I almost like to see Matt try to get that cocoon back," said Leroy.

"I won't," said Dark Start before grabbing him.

* * *

The giant spider was poking the cocoon gently. It seemed like one of its egg sacs...but they usually didn't pulsate.

It almost fell off its branch as a giant reptile landed in the clearing below, looking around...LUNCH!

The best part was the prey never looked up until it was too late.

It dove off with an angry hiss, the reptile turning to look before screaming, "OH GOD, HIDE THE KIDNEYS!" before a blast of blue flame hit the spider.

* * *

Spider-Man swung after Matt and called, "Matt, you shouldn't go this far in- OH MY THOR!" The last part was rather appropriate considering the size of the spider that was attacking Matt. The spider itself was on the defensive, Matt screaming various things as he tried to squash it

Ka-Zar landed on the branch and said, "Savage Land not safe place for outsiders." He took one look at the spider and said, "That very good example."

"Do they usually get this big?" asked Spider-Man.

"Never saw one that big before," said Ka-Zar, "You think you can make it stop?"

"Me?!" asked Spider-Man.

"You are Spider-Man, aren't you?" asked Ka-Zar.

"I don't speak to spid-" began Spider-Man before the panicked spider grabbed Spider-Man with some web and tried to hit Matt with him.

Ka-Zar turned to Chris and asked, "Shouldn't we do something?"

"In a minute," said Chris, who was filming the whole thing, "I have got to show Chloe this when we rescue her. Though she'll probably freak out."

"JUST HELP!" screamed Matt, grabbing Spider-Man

"Ok, ok," said Chris before handing his phone over to Ka-Zar, "Keep filming."

The spider itself was being backed up. The prey's ability to breathe flame made it formidable, and now more had turned up. The one it was using as a bludgeon wasn't being very cooperative either.

It hissed as one of its legs was webbed down again before looking up to see its bludgeon had gotten loose before it noticed the cocoon had landed, the dragon sniffing the air before looking at it.

The spider gave a hiss, more out of an attempt to appear intimidating than trying to threaten. The dragon glared before roaring at it hard enough to shake the ground.

Any smart predator knew when one prey is too much trouble to be worth trying to eat. The spider decided that this dragon just wasn't worth it anymore. It scuttled off, one of the dragons paws stopping it getting to the cocoon.

"That was probably the most ironic thing that ever happened to me," said Spider-Man, sitting up with a groan.

"That's...That's Kala..." gibbered Matt, pointing at the cocoon.

"Did she eat after midnight? No, way, it's not midnight, is it? Maybe she's on a different clock," said Spider-Man.

"That's my girlfriend you're joking about." said Matt in a dark, deep voice, his eyes glowing white

"So what kind of poison did she get hit with?" asked Spider-Man.

"No idea, this looks like a gene therapy cocoon mid-process," said Matt, poking the cocoon gently.

"So what's going to come out of it?" asked Spider-Man.

* * *

The cocoon opened, releasing a hideous half-fly version of Kala. "Ugh, not that!"

* * *

The cocoon opened, releasing a fairy version of Kala. "How does that make any sense?"

* * *

"I don't want to know what you're thinking about," said Matt flatly. He shifted back to humanoid form, his armor reforming.

"Scanning...unknown chrysalis state detected...recommend no interference," the onboard computer said.

"Yeah, you better leave her in there," said Chris, "Getting her out now would kill her."

"Urgh...why the hell did he want some old second hand medical processor?" muttered Matt, carefully lifting the cocoon.

"That's what Sauron was using to mutate the Pteron and Aerian leaders," said Spider-Man.

"Yes, he corrupted its purpose pretty well, but that's not what it was meant to do," said Matt.

"It's a medical tool designed to cure DNA-based medical conditions," said Chris grimly.

"And who knows what he's modifying it to do now," said Matt.

"Let's not think about it," said Chris with a shudder, making a comm report to Karisa.

"Tell me someone has a lead on my sister," said Matt icily.

"If she is Sauron, we know where to look," said Ka-Zar.

"No. She'd never let that dingbat transform her. She's probably giving him hell right now," said Matt angrily, not knowing how right he was.

* * *

Dr. Karisa was giving the cocoon a thorough examination. She was using all available methods of noninvasive examination to study Kala's condition. "Hmm...I've never seen anything like this," she muttered, using a scanner to try and get a reading on the inside.

"But you've at least read about this sort of thing, right?" asked Matt desperately.

"In theory...the transmutator goes through several lens and other systems to focus their energies. Nobody's ever been hit with the raw energy," said Karia calmly, keeping her eyes on the cocoon, the VI saying "This could represent a potential biohazard."

"Is there anything good you can tell me?" asked Matt out of exasperation.

"She seems to be pupating nicely," said Karisa.

"Pupating? She's turning into a bug?" said Matt dully, the VI saying "Recommend the subject is moved to Clean Lab 3."

"It's a little easier to say than metamorphosing," said Karisa.

"Just what is she going to become?" asked Matt.

"That's unclear right now," said Karisa, "But it should be very interesting."

"It's not interesting..." snapped Matt, a faint glow blinding them as the VI teleported them and the cocoon to the clean lab, the cocoon on the other side of a transparent energy field, Karisa putting on some manipulator gloves, a skeletal bot mirroring her movements as Karisa looked at a screen feed from the bot.

Matt rubbed his eyes until he could see again. "Look, can you at least tell me how long she's going to be in there?" asked Matt.

"No idea. She could hatch as anything. This lab's a good idea, given any of those forms could be a hostile creature," before she opened a separate window. "And there is still clear corruption in her brainwaves..." she said, pointing to several glowing red spots on the brain image.

"Great. So for all I know, she's going to be a kaiju when she hatches," said Matt.

"If she is...well, punch the field, all your power," said Karisa, Mattr glaring before going dragonian and punching the field...and being sent flying back. "Newest device from the company tech sector. Refractor field, reflects any force back at the initiator by about...10 times," said Karisa proudly, Matt making a faint whimpering from the dent in the wall.

"That being said, we will be giving her our best treatment," said Karisa, "If she can be reasoned with, we will do so."

"And if she can't?" rasped Matt.

Karisa said, "We deploy the incineration protocol...40,000 degrees."

"WHAT?!" snapped Matt.

"If she retains her fire affinity, it might not be enough," said Karisa.

"You are NOT hurting her," snapped Matt angrily, his eyes getting a faint glow.

"Hey, let's not assume that she'll be a monster," said Chris, "I mean, what are the odds of that happening?"

"Scanninf current readings. Estimation: 86.437%" said the VI politely.

"Uh, we've done better with worse odds," said Chris.

"Estimation now at 91.453%" said the VI before Matt blasted the speaker.

"Chris, remember our rule about tempting F-A-T-E?" asked Matt.

"Sorry," said Chris.

Karisa said, "I have ordered the men to deploy some sensor drones and I programmed them to look for your sister's DNA. Even if she's morphed, it should find her."

"Good. Meanwhile, I need to settle the score with Omnirus," said Matt.

"Mr. Lynch, the cocoon's accelerating development. The best chance to break this programming is for you to be-" she said before Matt snapped "No, I'm gonna bring her a little present. Chris, make sure Spider-Man, Ka-zar and White Tiger have no idea where I went. They won't get it."

"Matt, I think Kala should be your first concern," said Chris.

"Anderson, I gave you a very specific order," said Matt darkly.

"And I'm giving you sound advice," said Chris.

"You have your orders," said Matt coldly.

Chris sighed and said, "Fine. But you better hope Kala won't go feral just because you're not here."

Matt growled at that before walking out.

* * *

"Fix it FASTER!" snapped Omnirus in a panic, the others trying to get their ship to work.

"Maybe if someone didn't drive it into a tree," snapped Leroy.

"Just do it! That spider could be on its way already," said Omnirus in a faint voice, looking around.

"Is that what we were worried about?" asked Cyber.

Leroy said in a terrified voice, "You haven't...experienced them."

Cyber raising an eyebrow before his face slowly turned horrified as Leroy whispered in his ear.

"You know, there are other dangers in the Savage Land we should be more concerned about," said Dark Start.

"Leroy, explain the bots to her. We need more terror-based urgency," snapped Omnirus before the experiments all looked terrified. "That's more like it," smiled Omnirus before noticing the sun appeared to have gone out behind him.

"Oh no, is it the spider?" asked Omnirus.

"Nope, one of those other dangers I was talking about," said Dark Start.

Omnirus turned slowly to see a T-rex (probably) grinning at him before it chomped him, the others looking terrified. A few seconds later, the T-Rex seemed to be gagging before Omnirus popped out of one of its nostrils. "If anyone takes a picture of this, I'll personally feed them to the spider," said Omnirus in a warning tone.

The T-rex shrugged before stomping on Omnirus, turning to leave, pausing to kick some dirt on Omnirus and walking off. "Just...fix...it..." rasped Omnirus's voice from the footprint.

"If you're really that concerned, why aren't you working on upgrading your Omnitrix right now?" asked Dark Start.

"Because my liver and pancreas just swapped places," rasped Omnirus, saying, "I'm...just gonna lay here for a few minutes." Just then, an angry sounding roar was heard not too far in the distance. "Then again, what's a little internal injury when you've got something to keep your hands busy?" asked Omnirus.

"It's fine, just another T-rex," said Dark Start abscently, before a blue dragon landed on Omnirus's footprint home.

"WHERE'S OMNIRUS?" It roared, the experiments all pointing at his claws, a faint 'eeeeeeeee' coming from under. Matt looked down and said, "Oops." He turned to the others and said, "Uh, I'll be back in five minutes. Make sure Omnirus is ready to fight."

The experiments watched as Matt flew off before they strolled over to the footprint, now surrounded by cracks. Cyber said cheerfully, "Now you got 5 minutes to finish the Omnitri-uuuurk" said Cyber, gagging as Omnirus's hands, which had slowly and shakily reached up got a grasp on his neck.

* * *

5 minutes, one session in the regen booth and a hurried transmutator installation later...

"Ok, Kala's still metamorphosing? Ok, let me know when she's getting ready to come out. It shouldn't be long. Omnirus won't be hard to beat. I stomped him flat five minutes ago. No, I couldn't just finish him off then. Let me focus on my thing right now. See you later," said Matt before turning off his comm.

He descended with another divebomb, seeing the experiments in front of their ship. Omnirus and Cyber seemed the worst off, Omni still sporting a black eye and Cyber's eyes seemed to be a little wall eyed, his armor covered in what looked like fist-shaped dents. "Ok...hand over Omnirus so I can turn him into a glove," he snarled.

"Not this time," said Omnirus, "You've disrespected me for the last time."

"No. You were the one who was in my landing zone. That was an accident," said Matt.

Dark start said, "Got you there, boss. Wasn't his fault this time,"

Omnirus snapped, "I meant all the other times."

"And how is this time going to be any different?" asked Matt.

"Because I haven't been just repairing my Omnitrix, I've been upgrading it too," said Omnitrix, lightly tapping the Omnitrix faceplate. It was different now, shaped like a square with one half green, the other black, and two lines of each color extending into the other area.

"So you've got a new design, big whoop," said Matt.

"It's more than that," laughed Omnirus before being roasted by Matt. "Just...work...you...stupid watch," Omnirus coughed.

"Yeah, great upgrade," said Matt sarcastically.

"I'm getting to it," said Omnirus before pressing the Omnitrix faceplate. With a flash, he morphed into Diamondblast, but Matt could hear energy still building up.

"Uh oh," said Matt.

Then Diamondblast grew taller, his shoulders becoming even wider as flaming vents appeared in them. His back bulged as even more mass built up, building up to a literal peak that opened for a volcanic spout. His limbs got thicker, with his arms getting longer and his legs getting slightly shorter. His head was now slightly extended from the middle of the volcanic stack. In short, Diamondblast now looked like a volcano with arms and legs. "That's right, Lynch," said Diamondblast in a deeper voice, "A hyper-evolved Pyronite/Petrosapian hybrid. I can access my most powerful forms and you can't."

Matt gave a shocked look. "Does the condemned get a last request?" he said, taking off.

"I know I'm going to regret it, but I'll allow," said Ultimate Diamondblast.

Matt nodded, took a deep breath. "Oh dear God," said U-Diamondblast faintly before trying to ready a attack, before Matt started singing and everything went to pain.

* * *

Dr. Karisa was supervising the outside repairs when her ears flattened as some horrible noise was coming from the distance. But that noise was soon stopped. "Good thing that poor creature wasn't in pain long," she said.

* * *

"MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" screamed Dark Start manically, shaking Ultimate Diamondblast's head by the collar.

"I'm trying!" yelled Ultimate Diamondblast, shooting molten rocks from his volcanic spout at the flying Matt.

Matt just easily dodged the slow blast before actually stopping. "Oh thank Jumba," muttered Dark Start before her eyes turned to pinpricks as Matt called "Now for my next number..." Dark Start leaping down to Ultimate Diamondblast's arm and stomping on the joint that made spines shoot out.

"Hey, those are my spikes!" snapped U-Diamondblast. Dark Start turned to glare, the others only seeing that U-Diamondblast's head was lit up in red light before he said "I'm not saying stop." in a small voice.

"If only someone with aim was shooting," said Cyber dryly, having shut off his hearing after the first five seconds. Adjusting his blaster, he aimed at Matt and shot a burst of concentrated white noise at him.

Matt yelped as the blast went down his throat, before coughing smoke.

"Oi...never underestimate the artist-EEP!" he snapped, dodging a hail of spines as U-Diamondblast took back control, putting Dark Start on his shoulder, who was egging him on. "You'll need to do better than that!" called Matt.

"Gladly," said U-Diamondblast before his arms bulked up, his hands sinking into growing holes until he had a pair of large cannons for arms. Aim at Matt, he shot two huge flaming balls of crystal at him.

"Ohdeargod!" yelped Matt, a few spines shooting out as well, glowing red from heat. "Hah, what's the matter? Can't you hit me?" taunted Matt, before catching a spine in his jaws, spitting out. "Ok, fun over," he said, spitting a plasma blast at U-Diamondblast.

The blast hit U-Diamondblast dead center. But when the smoke cleared, he didn't even show a scratch. "You'll need to do better than that," said U-Diamonblast before plunging his hands into the ground. The ground right beneath Matt started turning red and giving off a lot of heat.

Matt flew up. "Yes, ground attacks against a flying target, well done," sneered Matt before looking down to see fire spreading from the trees that had been hit. "Omni, stop shooting, you fruit loop!" he roared.

"Wait for it..." said U-Diamondblast before the ground erupted and a spout of lava shot up straight at Matt.

Matt flapped to the side, wincing as the heat scorched his tail. "Are you actually trying to destroy the ground you are on?" snapped Matt.

"No, just the ground you're on," said U-Diamondblast before a huge crystal shot up through the ground. Matt was hit point blank shooting skywards. "HAH!" laughed U-Diamondblast.

Cyber said "Erm...boss?" pointing to the lava which was slowly heading for him.

"Will you relax? I'm half-Pyronite and half-Petrosapien. There's no way that lava can harm me," said U-Diamondblast, "I finally got Matt, right in the lungs. He won't be singing for weeks."

Leroy said, "But I thought we were bad guys."

"You guys don't realize what a big victory this is," said U-Diamondblast, "You're too caught up in the big picture. You can't see the forest for the trees."

"I can see the forest fire for the trees," said Dark Start.

"What the hell are you talking abou-oooooh dear," said Omni, turning to see the now pretty large fire.

"Yeah, throwing around that much fire in the jungle wasn't a good idea," said Dark Start.

"Shut up, everyone on the ship. Where the hell is Cy-CYBER, STOP ROASTING SMORES!" snapped Omnirus, turning back.

"I got enough for everyone," said Cyber.

"Just get in the ship," snapped Omnirus, looking up to see a small shape getting bigger. "OH DEAR GOD, IN THE SHIP!" he screamed, yanking Dark Start along.

"No time for hot dogs?" asked Leroy.

"NO TIME!" snapped Omnirus.

"But what about Kala? She knows too much," snapped Cyber in a rare sane moment as they ran up the ramp.

"What's there to know?" asked Dark Start dryly.

"That she'll give Matt's crew even more reason to kill us and she was probably the only reason they didn't hunt us down?" said Cyber, a uncomfortable silence following.

"Damn, we're lucky," said Dark start weakly.

"Look, Matt got Kala back, we're even now," said Omnirus.

"You don't really think that counts," said Dark Start disbelievingly.

"No, but it'll give us a headstart while we finish our work on this planet," admitted Omnirus.

"And knowing Matt, he'll have a lot more stuff to keep him occupied," said Leroy, "Like trying to get back his former street urchin-turned-sorceress."

Omni nodded. "Lets just put some distance before-AAAAARGH" Omnirus said, everyone screaming as a dazed Matt, hit the windscreen before Cyber turned on the wipers.

* * *

Chris wasn't able to keep the others back for very long, especially with a wildfire breaking out in the jungle. "The hell did Matt do?" Chris snapped, following, Karisa having been left cocoon watching before hearing and seeing a ship fly overhead before a shape fell off the front.

"Is that who I think it is?" asked Spider-Man.

"Let's see what sound it makes," said Chris. Eventually, the shape fell into a tree and a high-pitched yelp was heard. "Yep, that's Matt," said Chris with a wince.

There was a snapping noise before Matt landed in dragonian form, his armor's breastplate cracked. "I think my pancreas and liver swapped," Matt groaned.

"Ok, you need some bedrest," said Spider-Man, "But first, how are we going to put out that huge fire?"

"Oh, if only you had someone who can create a near endless supply of water," said Lana in an ironic dry tone.

"Shut it," grumbled Matt from ground level.

Chris said, "You're barely holding yourself together as it is..."

"If I can't put out a fire, what good am I?" asked Lana.

Matt, helped up, grumbled, "Fire's too big. I can tell cause you're shrinking."

"I can handle it," said Lana.

"And there's lava starting most of those fires. You have enough water to fully douse lava?" asked Matt.

Lana paused, before some new fear hit her.

"Lana? Lana, look at me," said Matt, "Lana, stop thinking about the lava."

"It's...burning...Dad?" said Lana weakly.

"Lana, no, you're not there. Think of the present, think of-" started Matt before Lana ran off.

Matt sighed before turning "Her dad..." before he paused. "Wait...what about a fireblock?"

"It might work. But how are we going to set one up here?" asked Spider-Man.

Matt looked up. "Chris, if I land half-insane, beat me up," he said before he took off, looking down to see the beach where Omnirus and company had been before actually starting to turn to brown glass, the fire spreading fast in all directions. "Gotta work...gotta work." he muttered, closing his eyes...

* * *

Mind scape

_"Come out here you lodger," snapped Matt, looking around._

_"Lodger? Are you insinuating that I'm a mere tenant here?" asked a lofty voice. "No, I'm insinuating you're a parasite," said Matt._

_"My name is Sokaris...and I heard you tell Mr. Anderson to beat me up," said Sokaris loftily, before saying evilly, "And you need something..."_

_"I need to know how to turn sand to glass," said Matt._

_Sokaris scoffed and said, "Even your feeble human methods had figured that out long ago."_

_"I prefer to not use a nuclear warhead," snapped Matt._

_Sokaris smirked. "So you want me to give you my knowledge. Well I want some time in the physical world that doesn't count on admiration." He lifted up his paw to show some mental chains._

_"Since when have I gotten admiration?" asked Matt._

_"Yes...in my day, we were gods among you mortals. Had fun in the Mayan empire," said Sokaris wistfully._

_"I saw enough of that," said Matt darkly._

_"You saw plasma dragons. My people were the real deal," said Sokaris harshly, the chains creaking._

_"Look, I didn't come here for a history lesson," said Matt._

_"Yes, you came for power worthy of a dragon...and I have stated my terms. I want to feel air under my wings," roared Sokaris._

_"I'm not giving you the keys to this place," said Matt, "If you get any wing time, it'll be a measured, finite time."_

_"Then enjoy seeing those lands burn," sneered Sokaris._

_"10 minutes," said Matt._

_"20 minutes...during the night," said Sokaris._

_"Ok, fine," said Matt, "But if you touch her..."_

_"I would not touch your mate-to-be," said Sokaris, before sneering, "This may hurt." before he jammed his claws into Matt's forehead._

* * *

Matt's eyes shot open, his eyes having a faint glow for a second. "Ok...concentrate..." he muttered to himself, a glow rising from his chest. The wet sand around Matt was already starting to hiss and steam.

He concentrated harder, his horns getting faint markings before he spat out a pure beam of plasma, black smoke rising and a deep trench being dug as he slowly led it around the flames. Trees grass, rocks, all vaporised under the onslaught, without even time to combust, leaving black glass and ash in its place...and it hurt. Matt's throat felt like it had a knife in it as he led the blast, the glowing lines on his horns spreading all over him, though minus the cracks of imminent elementalization.

* * *

"Holy crap!" yelled Chris, the group moving back just in time, the beam annihilating the trees where they had been before.

"I've only seen Nova get that hot, and only on very rare occasions," said Spider-Man.

"Yeah, too hot, get back further!" snapped Chris, continuing to run, before Ka-Zar noticed that the glowing and plinking glass had halted the flames' spread. While there was still lava lying about, the lava didn't have anything to burn after the plasma ashed everything flammable.

"I think he's got it," called Spider-Man, before the glow vanished from Matt and he began to plummet into the center of the fire.

"I don't think so," said Chris before flying towards Matt. What he found was a familiar dragon hovering in the updraft with a content smile. "Oh, he had to call on you," said Chris.

"No...I called on me. If he does, so do I," said Sokaris calmly, before saying, "Though I did give him the skills to stop this inferno."

"And now you have, you can give him his body back," said Chris.

"He's out cold. I can't turn back unless you want him roasted," said Sokaris logically, flying towards the others before Chris got in his way.

"You turn back when you land. We look after our own..not some egotistical nutcase." Sokaris's eyes narrowing but complying.

The others naturally tensed up when he landed, but less so when he shifted to a unconscious human, Matt. "Bedrest," said Chris decisively, "Chloe and Connors can wait until he's had time to recover."

* * *

Mindscape

_"Sokaris smiled to himself, Matt glaring. "I suppose...some thanks are needed given we're both not dead," said Matt icily, adding, "When I wake up..."_

_Sokaris lifting a talon, "Ah, ah...a deal is sacred between dragons. As you humans say, no take backsies."_

_"This was a one-time thing," said Matt._

_"For now. You're barely a hatchling and you've the scars to prove it...and my knowledge will help. I will not ask for...longer," said Sokaris._

_"You better not," growled Matt._

_"Of course not. You require lessons and if you die, so do I," said Sokaris._

_"You're technically not alive to begin with," said Matt._

_"I'm bound to your body," said Sokaris, "And I'm not likely to reincarnate in another plasma dragon any time soon."_

_"Fine...but no trouble or it's mental poison time," warned Matt, before looking around "We're still out cold..." before he looked down at what they'd been doing before the argument. "Got any threes?"_

_Sokaris muttered, "Go fish."_

* * *

Dr. Karisa was feeling a little put-upon. She wasn't really a medical doctor and yet she had to watch over two patients. And now some half-savage jungle man was snapping at her over the damage to his jungle. "For the final time, I will make sure we replant," snapped Karisa, before snapping, "Now please get out before I forget my pledge to not eat people."

"Not just plants. New soil," said Ka-Zar, "The earth was burned badly."

"We'll turn it into a stream," said Karisa sarcastically.

"GO FISH!" yelled Matt, sitting up, causing both Ka-Zar and Karisa to jump. Matt looked around before snapping, "DAMMIT! I had him where I wanted him." He looked at Ka-Zar and Karisa, "What are you looking at?"

"Uh, how are you feeling?" asked Karisa.

"I have a headache," said Matt darkly

"Well, you seem to have recovered from the most severe of your injuries, though I still recommend you rest longer," said Karisa.

"My mouth tastes of plasma clips," muttered Matt, before seeing the now larger cocoon. "What have you been feeding her?" asked Matt.

"Nothing," said Karisa with a roll of her eyes before the cocoon shook.

"How often has it been doing that?" asked Matt.

"A few hours...oh, and Mr Ka-Zar is annoyed that you glassed a road in his jungle," said Karisa icily.

"I had to stop the rest of the jungle from going up in flames," said Matt.

"I'm sure you and Ka-Zar can discuss things," said Karisa with a evil grin, walking out.

Matt turned to Ka-Zar and said, "Look, the fire-" Just then, the cocoon gave a bigger wobble. As Matt and Ka-Zar turned to look at it, a crack appeared in the surface. Matt, in a sudden show of energy, jumped off is bed, running over to the cocoon. "Honey? You ok in there?" he yelled at the shell.

The cocoon shook and Matt saw something was pushing against the surface. He looked around before grabbing the nearest sharp pin and hitting the cocoon. "I'M COMING, HONEY!" yelled Matt manically.

"Not a good idea," said Ka-Zar.

Matt turned to glare. "I'M GETTING MY KALA OUT OF THERE! Wait, why's it a bad idea?" he asked, the shell starting to glow.

"Because she's getting herself out," said Ka-Zar, flipping a table over and getting behind it.

Matt turned to look in confusion, seeing the glow. "Oh, some leftover viking dragon DN-" he said.

* * *

Karisa sighed as the door to Matt and Kala's room was blown off its hinges, before she sighed, taking a medikit off the wall and walking in. She had to watch her step as she walked in, as there was red goo splattered everywhere. "She couldn't come out of her chrysalis quietly. No, she had to make a big mess with it," she grumbled.

She finally waved some smoke aside to see a red haired human with a blanket covering her and Matt slumped against the wall with a dazed look. "Ms. Kala?" asked Karisa.

The woman turned to look at her with a terrified look. "Some pants...please..." she said with a twitch.

"In a moment," said Karisa before thinking better of it, "No, some proper attire should be first. We can evaluate you afterwards."

"Medic," rasped Matt, Karisa throwing the medikit at him. "Ow," said Matt.

Ka-Zar just blinked, before shrugging. The Savage Land is a strange place, with things that even surprised him sometimes. The cocoon's contents were hardly the weirdest thing. He sniffed at the red goo. For some unknown reason, it smelled just like strawberries. Though only an idiot would try to taste it.

* * *

"Beginning Evaluation...Dr Karisa recording. Subject: Kala 777...previously 700 series military grade experiment. Say hi, Kala," said Karisa, speaking into her datapad, two guards standing behind Kala, who was wearing a blue jumpsuit.

"Hi, Kala," said Kala in an annoyed tone.

"We'll begin with reading off the medi-scan results. It seems alot of her experimenty qualities, such as increased cell density and strength have carried over, though physical features have not. Tests with small arms showed only light bruising," Karisa said.

Kala snapped, "You told me that was an airsoft game."

"Her senses also retain some of their enhanced experimental quality. Eyesight, hearing, and olfactory are quite acute. There are some notable experimental features that have been retained. Her irises are 50% bigger than a normal human's and when fully dilated, her pupils cover 60% of her optic surface. More obvious to the casual observer is that her ears come to points not unlike an elf's or Vulcan's."

"I like it, Matt does too," said Kala sulkily.

Karisa rolled her eyes before saying, "Onto the mental state, she's definitely retained a experiments approach to rules."

"I was always like that," said Kala.

"A psi-scan however showed several anomalies which concern me. Clear signs of the beginning of split personality and a dormant third." said Karisa, Kala suddenly looking concerned

"Dormant third? What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Kala.

"Your mind is a mess," said Karisa calmly, asking "Have you ever had this before?" noting that Kala now looked worried.

"Not for a long time," said Kala quietly.

"Well, its coming back. It seems to be in the proto-stage. I'll be prescribing some nano-meds to counter it," said Karisa calmly, before turning back to her medical report, "I've read your file, you won't have dragon powers for a while. Your control nanite is heavily damaged and is missing the newer nanites Matt has."

"Wait, I can't use my elemental powers anymore?" asked Kala.

"That appears to be the one exception to you retaining any experiment powers," said Karisa calmly.

"Well, that's going to make things...one-sided," said Kala.

"I don't see any reason for Matt to lose interest in you," said Karisa with a coy smile.

"Right... Any estimation on when I'll get my full fire powers back?" asked Kala.

"Hard to say," said Karisa, "Your control nanite seems to be in a self-repair mode, but it looks like it may require a trigger to reactivate it."

"Oh goody," said Kala gloomily.

"I won't worry too much about it," said Karisa, "If I've noticed a pattern with this dimension, it's that such triggers happen sooner than later."

"And who knows what I'll turn into...MY LIFE IS OOOVEEER!" screamed Kala, the two guards looking at one another as Karisa facepalmed.

"Human estrogen seems to have increased her dramatizing tendencies," remarked Karisa.

"Screw you!" snapped Kala before looking confused as Karisa grinned.

* * *

There's another chapter, one that changes the status quo a little. Omnirus is going to be a bigger threat in future chapters, though he might not appear as often. And Kala's back with the good guys, though she might be out of action for a while. Tomorrow will be the last chapter of the Savage Land arc. Keep an eye out for it and please review.


	12. Return to the Savage Land, Part 7

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 12: Return to the Savage Land, Part 7**

"Hey true believers. We're still down in the Savage Land, but now we're back together again. Although we've had some pretty weird adventures so far. Mutagenic flowers, energy vampires, and frost giants, not something I'd expect to find even here. We've even fought Omnirus and rescued Kala and returned her to normal, sort of. But we're not done down here. We still need to free Dr. Connors and Chloe from the clutches of Sauron and the lizard cultists. We've been delayed a lot from actually getting to them. I only hope they're not in serious trouble."

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T ADD PLUMBING TO MY ROOM? I am installing a flushing toilet and some proper windows, dammit!" snapped Chloe, a literal thundercloud over her head.

"This fortress is carved out of living stone," snapped Sauron, "Does it look like there's room to put in any plumbing?"

"You won't even let me try!" snapped Chloe angrily.

"I'm not letting you wreck my lair for some frivolous luxury," snapped Sauron.

"LUXURY? IT'S BASIC HYGIENE!" screamed Chloe.

"There's a perfectly good waterfall and there's plenty of jungle to dig holes in," said Sauron.

"I...hole...what?" said Chloe in horror before her eyes glowed red. "You...you..." she managed.

"And another thing, clear all those drapes and flowers in my throne room," said Sauron, "It's supposed to be a seat of power, not a salon of pleasantries."

"They're pine trees and poison ivy...to throw minions in," snapped Chloe, a yelp heard with a snap. "And a few carnivorous plants," Chloe finished.

"Well, the carnivorous plants can stay, but everything else has to go," said Sauron, "The stench is reeking havoc on my sinuses."

"You know, my moronic husband, you could get more for your army if you don't scare them shitless. Another reason for toilets I might add," said Chloe, managing to control her temper.

"You don't get warriors out of lap dogs," said Sauron.

"True...but you don't get them by cutting the tribe leader's head off or mummifying them," said Chloe angrily. "My plan was going fine. If you'd let me go there to deal with that spider human you would have had two major factions under your control without firing a shot," she snapped, pointing a talon at Sauron.

"And I say you should have done a lot more than just giving them a bit of my abilities," said Sauron.

"It affected their minds, didn't it?" said Chloe smugly, "I'm getting better results than you. Maybe I should have that staff?"

"I think you're forgetting who's in charge around here," said Sauron before grabbing Chloe's shoulder.

There was a faint glow, the beginning of his draining ability, only for it to flicker out, Chloe smirking "That doesn't work between us, honey. But I think this will," she said, putting her hand on his and shocking him, forcing him down and letting her take his crown as he dropped his staff. "Hmm...nice fit," she said, slipping it on, its gem glowing and the shock getting stronger.

"You can do this!" snapped Sauron.

"You think you'll find I can, dear," said Chloe with a happy smile. "You know..." she said, shock blasting him back and picking up his staff, her eyes getting a golden glow, "I don't think Chloe suits me anymore."

"And what do you intend to call yourself?" asked Sauron sarcastically.

"Well, something that'll fit my new appearance," said Chloe, "The less I look like you, the better."

"You can't control that power. It took me years to master," sneered Sauron, getting up.

"I'm a fast learner," said Chloe, "And I've got more talent than you." Sauron glared and charged Chloe at that, only for two minions to aim crossbows at him. "I think they like the new management. Throw him out," said Chloe calmly, her form slowly changing.

"I am your king! You will obey my-" started Sauron before one of the minions punched Sauron in the gut.

"I think they prefer a new mistress," said Chloe calmly.

"Anyone's an improvement over him," said one lizardman.

"The people have it. Sauron, I won't say that I don't owe this new position to you...that's why I'll give you a 2 minute head start before I send people out to kill you," Chloe said happily.

"But I'm..." said Sauron weakly.

"Alone with no allies? Enemies who will want your head the minute I let slip of the change of power? Yes," said Chloe, a long tail growing behind her, "Now I suggest you leave before my generosity gives out."

Sauron glared, before tearing aside some drapes and flying out the window. "Send a message to the clans...open season," said Chloe, walking out to reveal her new form was more...raptor-ry then before, adding "Signed Queen Dakota."

* * *

It took a bit more concentration than Lana would have thought, but she had managed to get her body out of her elemental state. She wasn't completely back to normal, but her draconic form wasn't that much different from her Navaki body, just with added wings and horns. But for some reason, the effort had really winded her.

Matt, sat opposite, nodded. "Yeah, takes it out of you. Don't use it all the time," he warned.

"It seems more convenient for a lot of things," said Lana ,"Well, except for sitting down or eating."

Matt sighed, before saying, "Hey...come here...come on," reaching for his mechanical eye.

"What are you doing?" asked Lana, a little disturbed. After a bit of prodding, Matt's eye opened like a camera lens, revealing a glow blue orb of plasma inside his metal-lined eye socket. "What is that?" yelped Lana.

"A little payment from an eldritch knowledge demon in exchange for rooting around my head," said Matt.

"It's..." managed Lana, before saying confidently, "It's a trick." Matt dropping the mech eye into her hand, Lana noticing finally the eye had no power source. "Tha...that's?" she said weakly.

Matt finished, "What happens when you overuse your elemental side...and if you go too far, you… Elementals don't care about the physical plain," he said, taking the eye and replacing it.

"Does it..." started Lana.

"Hurt? Not really. The cybernetic's so I don't burn a hole in my head," said Matt.

"Er, I was going to ask if it did anything," said Lana.

"Oh, not that I've figured out," said Matt, "My...physician advised against trying to shoot beams out of it since I could melt the cybernetics or worse."

"But can it see anything your other eye can't?" asked Lana.

Matt concentrated, his other eye lighting up, a few cracks of light appearing around them before he winced, shutting his eyes, them turning back. "Ow...don't try that...and use elemental powers as a last resort," he winced, "And that concludes today's lesson. Now let's see how the battle plans are going."

Lana followed Matt out, shaking before Kala joined them, glaring at Lana. "Kala," said Matt happily.

"Matt," said Kala, less warmly.

"Kala...what's wrong?" Matt sighed to himself.

Lana guessed and said, "He was in a bad crash. I'm just a medic."

"Oh, a medic. Isn't that just Matt's type?" said Kala, almost growling.

"His brain was scrambled eggs for 24 hours," complained Lana.

"How fortunate for you," said Kala.

"There really was nothing," said Lana and Matt in unison.

"Your wings say otherwise," said Kala, "And really, Matt? A water elemental?"

"I gave her a blood transfusion," snapped Matt.

"I suppose you were the only matching blood type," snarked Kala.

"No, I gave her a dose of nanites too. She stopped me from being a veggie...and she's hanging out with me cause..." said Matt, before saying something that sounded like small roars and snarls, Kala's expression changing.

"Ok, I can allow you a little slack for that," said Kala, "But still, you didn't put as much effort into finding me."

"Did you miss the part where his brain was scrambled eggs? His memory was shot to hell," said Lana before Matt could cover her mouth.

Kala gave Lana an annoyed look and said, "I was referring to before he crashed here in Lizard Land."

"What was I supposed to do? Omni had as good as a gun to your head. If I'd gone in, who do you think he woulda shot first, even if I coulda found you? You know he has a sensor scrambler," said Matt in a dark voice.

"But-" started Kala.

"And let's not overlook the fact that you were his willing accomplice at the time," said Matt, "Reprogrammed, yes, but would you have let me rescue you in your then-current state?" Kala tried to open her mouth as Matt snapped "You were practically hanging off his arm."

Kala glared and said in a strained voice, "Nothing...happened...at all."

"You sure about that? Can you remember what happened?" snarled Matt.

"Ok, ok, I think we've obviously got a lot of steam to work out here," said Lana.

"Steam? Really? Did you have to say that?" asked Kala.

Lana paused. "What do you mean?" she growled.

"Now you're rubbing in how you have elemental powers and I don't," said Kala.

"No we aren't," snarled Matt angrily as Lana's head fell.

"I don't even qualify as a dragon anymore," snapped Kala.

"SO WHAT? I wasn't a dragon when we met either," snapped Matt angrily, punching his claws into the wall before he leaned in and growled, "And you need to work out what happened with you and your experiment boyfriend." before he and Lana walked past her.

As they were walking away, a voice in Matt's head said, _"As much as she needed to be put in her place, I do prefer Kala over the water lizard."_

"Shut up..." muttered Matt icily.

* * *

"Ok, you got one last thing left, merc. After Chris explained, we sent some drones to check your target. His compound's pretty heavily defended. Impossible to hit...till now. Something went down this morning. Big energy discharges then their leader was seen rabbiting out," said the EGIS captain, pointing at a birds eye view showing a singed Sauron flying away, minus his usual garb of scepter and crown.

"If Sauron's fled his own lair, it could be a greater threat to whole Savage Land," said Ka-Zar.

"Not our job. Nothing short of a surface to orbit MAC'll damage those walls. That said, the drones found something more. The ground underneath is a honeycomb. Charge in the right place'll put you up in their basement," said the trooper, pressing a button and the hologrid shape rotating to show tunnels.

"Tunnels under Savage Land almost more dangerous than surface," said Ka-Zar.

"Of course they are," said Spider-Man in a tired tone.

"We can't spare any men. Your experiment friend put so many holes in the perimeter we need as many men as we can spare on guard duty," said the trooper.

"Omnirus is not our friend," said Chris, "Unless you're referring to Kala, who is very much our friend."

"All we can spare is equipment and the map of the tunnels," said the trooper.

"I've done more with less," said Chris, "So long as there aren't mole people down there."

"Wrong country, fortunately," said Spider-Man.

"What is down there? And I realise I won't like the answer...tell me anyway," said Chris with a sigh.

"No one's seen all of underground, but is said to be big bugs down there," said Ka-Zar.

"Centipedes?" asked Chris.

"And more...hunt at night there," said Ka-zar, Chris getting a distant look of terror.

"Yeah, I don't think Kala should be on this mission," said Chris. Unfortunately, he chose a rather bad time to say it as Matt, Lana, and Kala had just walked in.

Kala stared as Chris continued, "She's just human at the moment...and we don't have good track record. The marines back on the ship taunt us by painting newbie armors red."

Kala was about to snap at Chris when he said, "And I wouldn't want to pit her against giant centipedes, particularly in her state." Kala quickly shut her mouth at that.

"We have a few exo armors," said the trooper pointedly.

"I dunno. Those might be cumbersome underground," said Chris.

"It's advanced infantry armor. She'll be fine..." said the trooper.

Chris said, "She'd just get in the way..." before Kala snapped "Will I?"

Chris before turning towards Kala. "How long have you been standing there?" he asked.

"Long enough to know there are giant centipedes," said Kala, "I thank you for taking my phobia into consideration, but I'm not going to be seen as baggage."

"Hey, if I get you killed, Matt'll kill me," said Chris in a defensive tone.

"Also right here," said Matt, sounding more bored than angry.

Kala hung her head again. "Just give me the damn suit," she said angrily.

"It'll be only for this mission," said Matt, "After you've had time to rest, you'll be starting fires again in no time."

"No, I am not being left out," snapped Kala angrily.

"I wasn't saying that. I was saying the exo-suit is just for this mission," said Matt.

Kala glared, Matt returning the glare before Chris said, "Did I miss something?"

"Long story, not something to be repeated in public," said Matt.

"Boss...maybe Kala should stay here for the op?" Chris began.

"Oh, no couples for this mission? Fine. Then you don't get to come and rescue Chloe," said Matt.

Chris glared. "That's low. At the moment, Kala is the only one here who isn't powered," he snarled.

"That's not true," said Kala, "I still have my experiment powers."

"And I read your report from the doc," said Chris, passing Matt a copy.

Matt took one brief scan of the report and said, "Control nanite damaged, but self-repairing. See? Nowhere as bad as when Lucius depowered us."

"Check the mental part," said Chris grimly, Kala looking pleadingly at Matt, mouthing "No." over and over.

Matt only read it and said, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The only thing I'm questioning is _three_ personalities."

"Oh, like you're one to talk," said Chris, "What's the current count in your head?"

"...2," said Matt to himself, the others smirking.

"Yeah, and I'm a French bulldog," said Chris sarcastically.

"Let's just go," said Matt in annoyance, adding, "I'm sure Chloe's fine and in control."

* * *

The raptor pack peered out of Chloe's room. _"Maybe she__'__s on a diet?"_ said one in a hopeful voice.

_"Yeah, you're just empty calories,"_ said another dryly.

_"Oh please shut up__,__"_ muttered the leader, the group cautiously heading down the corridor. _"Ok__, __we'll go back to our territory and _never_ speak of this again,"_ the leader said carefully the group turning the corner and see an anthro raptor in front of them, wearing robes and holding Sauron's staff.

She looked very different from the other raptors they had seen. For one thing, she had that odd, curvy torso that humans had. Another was she had a large pair of feathered wings on her back.

That said, they were cautious, before hissing in unison. _"Out the way, weirdo__,__"_ hissed one of the two females.

"Now is that any way to address your queen?" asked the winged raptor.

_"We __didn't__ answer to that freak, __S__auron and __definitely__ not to you. What did you two freaks ever give us except a job as a repeatable lunch?"_ snapped the leader.

"Good news for you, you're in line for a promotion," said the winged raptor, "You see, I need an elite guard and I'll need one with brains."

One of the females stalked forward, hissing, _"Not __interested__."_ before the packs' brains caught up with the situation and conversation. _"Wait...you're not supposed to understand us__,__"_ said the female who was closest.

"Obviously I'm scraping the barrel in the brains department," said the winged raptor flatly, "I just hope evolution will fix that problem."

_"What?"_ said the female before gagging as the raptor woman grabbed her by the throat

"Now keep in mind, this may take a few tries," said the raptor woman.

The raptors backed up as the gagging raptor began to morph, her form morphing into a smaller clone of the one holding her, some tribal clothes forming round her.

"Well, that worked out better than I expected," said the winged raptor, putting down the transformed female, "But let's see if your brain's up to speed."

The newly-changed female shook her head and snapped in English, "What did you do to-" before she slammed her snout shut in horror.

"Ok, that's a start. But an awful lot of folk are able to talk without a brain," said the winged raptor.

"You turned me into a freak!" snapped the female.

"This is a vast improvement," said the winged raptor, "Have you noticed these yet?" She stuck out her thumb and wiggled it.

The raptor looked down at her new thumbs...a second later the winged raptor was rubbing her snout as the new mutate experimented with fists.

"I suppose that's a bit of a start," said the winged raptor, "I think we need to work on the pecking order."

She turned to the others. "Serve me and you will have the same power..." she said loftily, before when no response came, she added in a dull tone "And thumbs."

_"What are we supposed to do with thumbs?"_ asked one raptor.

"Ever played a video game?" asked the winged raptor.

_"I dunno. What__'__s it taste like?"_ said another.

"I wonder if Sauron stashed a brain serum around here somewhere," muttered the winged raptor.

"You haven't evolved them yet, boss," said the evolved female.

"Fair point," said the winged raptor.

The other raptors tried to run before similar blasts of yellow hit them. "Ok, now that we're not all birdbrains, who wants to seize control of the Savage Land?" asked the winged raptor.

The confused mutates looked at each other before the alpha said, "What's in it for us?"

"Glory, power, and you get to wield the big sticks," said the winged raptor. The raptor mutates gave her level stares. "The 'big sticks' were a metaphor. I will be giving you real weapons," said the winged raptor.

"We have weapons," said one of the raptors, flexing his claws.

"But you have to get close to someone to use it," said the winged raptor, "Which isn't particularly fair, especially when they can pick you off before you can get to them."

"The boom sticks?" said another, remembering them watching another pack attacking the white-shelled humans.

"Yes, now you have the hands to use them," said the winged raptor.

"We could kill any prey we want," said one of the pack with a grin.

"It'd almost be unfair," said another.

The winged raptor rolled her eyes. "Yes...now, unless you want me to see if I can devolve you to goo, swear allegiance," she snapped. There was a long pause at that. "Well?" snapped the winged raptor.

"Who are we swearing our allegiance to?" asked a raptor.

"Queen Dakota," sighed the winged raptor, facepalming.

"Oh, you didn't introduce yourself before," said the raptor.

"JUST SAY IT!" screamed Dakota, her eyes crackling with lightning the group recognized.

* * *

"We're going in there? The cave that says 'feed me'?" snapped Kala.

"Oh don't worry. It's just a cave with a lot of stalactites and stalagmites that only vaguely look like teeth," said Spider-Man. The others glared at him. "Uh, at least there isn't anything above the cave that looks like angry eyes," he said.

"You go first." said Chris in an annoyed tone.

Matt sighed. "Can we save the scrabbling till the bugs turn up?" he said.

"There's no guarantee they'll show up," said White Tiger.

"Yes there is," said Matt, "Especially after we've said it."

"Its true. It's like clockwork," said Chris gloomily.

"Watch this," said Matt before firing at the cave's ceiling. There was a pause, Matt saying "Wait for it." before a spider the size of the Spider-Cycle fell from the ceiling. "Is that smaller than the one that had Kala's cocoon in its web?" asked Matt.

"WHAT?!" yelped Kala.

"Nothing," said Chris desperately, kicking Matt before they headed in. The inside of the cave was riddled with holes, slithering noises coming from each one, sometimes compound eyes staring curiously out.

"You sure you don't have any control over spiders?" asked Ka-Zar to Spider-Man.

"I wish I did," said Spider-Man, his mask's night vision showing that...the spider had friends, all of them watching silently.

"Let's go before the centipedes take their turn," said Matt. Almost faster than the eye could see, Kala was now clinging onto Matt's back.

"How much further?" whimpered Kala.

Chris looking at the datapad he'd been given. "We just got in sooooooo...30 minutes," he said.

* * *

Dakota jumped as the nearby half-built toilet seemed to scream 'NOOOOOOOO'. "Mental note: create plumbers in the Savage Land so they can check that," she said weakly.

* * *

The tunnels weren't quite so threatening the further you went. But you always got that feeling that something was lurking the shadows. "I swear, if there's a balrog down here, I quit," muttered Matt.

"Just spiders..." said Chris faintly before double taking, a tiny scorpion waving at him from a hole.

"Uh...hey, here's something to take our minds off them," said Spider-Man, pointing at a wall. This wall was rather smooth compared to the rest of the cave. That was probably why it was covered in cave paintings.

Kala walked up to it. "Nice, I only ever read about these on computer screens when I was young. What's it say?" she said cheerfully.

"It tells of ancient days in Savage Land," said Ka-Zar after studying it, "When people of Atlantis made this land what it is today."

"If it was the Atlantis I know, there would be more lasers," muttered Matt to himself.

"Different Atlantis," reminded Chris, "They're fish people here."

"Of course they are," sighed Matt, as Kala walked to the left.

"Hey, I think there's a spaceship on this one," she said, Matt walking up.

"I think I saw their handiwork. Me and Lana..." he began, Kala glaring and walking back to Ka-Zar. "I wasn't even trying to-" started Matt.

"Let her be," said White Tiger, "She needs time to heal."

"Yeah, you can't speed up a make-up," said Chris before pausing at what looked like a depiction of a robotic _T. rex_, _Triceratops_, and _Pteranodon_. "Hey, are those..." he started.

"No! They are not. It's impossible for them to have been here. And they never will be here," snapped Matt.

"But it's..." began Chris only for Matt to grab him by the collar and hiss "We saw nothing."

"So, how much further is it to Sauron's place?" asked Coldlahd.

"Not much further," said Chris, checking before looking up. "There. Matt, can you keep your foot out your mouth long enough to fit the charge?"

"Fine," grumbled Matt.

There was a crumbling noise down the tunnel at that, causing Kala to tense up. "Anyone hear that?" she said nervously.

"Would saying 'no' make it go away?" asked Spider-Man, though his spider-sense was starting to throb.

She turned in time for something to hit her on the head.

* * *

"Ok...charge is set," called Matt from the roof, flying down. "Everyone keep their heads down," called Matt, "Rocks to the face hurt."

A yellow blast shot out, knocking him into the wall. "Please don't blow holes in my floor," said Chloe's voice from the darkness, though it sounded an octave off.

"Chloe, you escaped from Sauron. That's good. I'm still annoyed about the blast to the face," said Matt.

"I didn't escape. I kicked him out," said Chloe's voice, several pairs of eyes appearing in the dark as well as a pair of yellow ones.

"So you overthrew him and liberated the people of the Savage Land," said Matt.

"Not exactly. More of a...change of management," said Chloe, walking into the light, five anthro raptors in tribal clothing and holding crossbows and swords seen with her. Chloe was more identifiable due to her plumage, her feathered wings, and the crown on her head.

Matt glared. "Chloe, cut this out. Let's just get out of here," he said, walking forward.

"I've grown to like it here," said Chloe as electricity started crackling her claws, "And you may call me Queen Dakota."

"Oh great...another Silvia." muttered Matt, readying a plasma ball.

"Dakota? You've never been to North or South Dakota," said Chris.

"As in _Dakotaraptor_," said Dakota in annoyance, "Queen Utah just didn't have the right ring."

"Guys, meet Silvia, Chloe's insane half," said Matt, calmly, Dakota's eyes narrowing.

"I hope that Silvia trying on a new persona," said Chris, "Oh, by the way, Matt, you owe me $30."

"I am not Silvia...and you are trespassing..." snarled Dakota, before murring at Chris, "You can stay."

"Not until you trim those toenails," said Chris.

"Dakota, I want to talk to my sister," warned Matt, readying a second plasma orb.

"I am your sister," said Dakota with annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah, Silvia, put Chloe on the phone," said Matt.

dishes

"I really am...just improved. I've got real power...and I could make a far better ruler then Sauron. He never understood how rulers work," said Dakota calmly, though sounding a little hurt.

"Why would you be better? Because you're British?" asked Zira. The others gave her a look. "Well, someone had to say it," said Zira.

"No, because I don't keep alienating the other clans and the world with some 'take over the world quick' scheme," sneered Dakota, adding, "As for Sauron, he still thinks the Pterons are on his side. He should find out he's wrong soon."

"But we haven't gotten to curing the Pteron Queen yet," said Spider-Man.

"Actually, EGIS sent some people to do just that," said Chris.

"It's a shame I will miss it," laughed Dakota. She walked forward to Chris and Matt, who backed up a step. "I'm still your sister/...significant other. I just have a new look," she said calmly, before saying, "Sorry I shot you. It's a bit dark and monster-infested down here...and then I saw some twit attaching an explosive to my floor." She gave Matt a pointed glare.

"We were getting ready to rescue you," said Matt annoyed.

"Do I look like I need rescuing?" she said, putting her arms round Chris.

His eye twitched before he said in a level voice, "Not exaaaactly...but you did shoot at us...and those look like minions." pointing at the raptor pack who all started whistling innocently, their arms behind their backs.

"We prefer 'professional go-" started one raptor before another raptor grabbed his throat.

"He meant 'professional guards'," said the second raptor.

One of the females nodded. "Yeah, ignore Zaris. His brain's water wheel fell off at birth," she said quickly. Dakota looked like she wanted to scream before she asked, "Could we please take this conversation where there are giant spiders and centipedes?"

She and her 'guards' were knocked aside as a Kala-shaped blur barrelled past them. "That'd be a big yes," said Matt.

* * *

Dakota led the group out into a courtyard. "That idiot, Sauron, practically set himself up for a fall...and his people didn't even blink when I took over," she explained, adding, "No agriculture, most of them are either used as cannon fodder and test subjects."

"Speaking of test subjects, where's Dr. Connors?" asked Spider-Man.

"And the rest of the temple caste?" asked Lana.

"I kicked them out on their tails. Last thing I need is such backward-thinking morons," said Dakota with a offhand wave, adding, "Connors...I'm not sure where he is. I never saw him while I was here."

"He has to be here somewhere," said Spider-Man.

"I'll send out scout parties tomorrow. If Sauron had him, maybe he escaped later on?" said Dakota calmly.

"A one-armed man wouldn't last long in Savage Land," said Ka-Zar grimly.

"There is one plus; Sauron had everything so scared that most of the lands around are clear...except for some firefight near the volcano," said Dakota.

"Right..." said Matt, "I'm sure Connors is smart enough to not go into hostile territory."

"I'll ask my people to look for him..." said Dakota with an award-winning (and deadly-looking) toothy smile.

"So...what about that climate machine?" said Matt cheerfully.

Dakota paused, "At the volcano? My scouts told me they tried to warn Sauron about some ruckus there."

"Is that so?" asked Matt.

Lana opened her mouth. "Actually there-" she began.

Matt said, "-was nothing but a ruckus." cutting her off.

"But-" started Lana before Kala stomped on her foot, harder than necessary. "Ow!" snapped Lana, hopping.

Dakota turned with concern. "What happened?" she asked.

Matt said, "She stubbed her claw."

"Say, does Sauron have a larder?" asked Zira.

"Second door on the right. Though it's mostly food for his army. He had...other foods," said Dakota with a shudder.

"Speaking of which, he didn't vampirize you, did he?" asked Matt.

"He tried..." said Dakota with a dark smirk to herself

"He tried to feed us to her," said one of the raptors, who looked oddly familiar to some of the group.

"You...didn't, did you?" asked Matt.

Dakota hissed at the male who backed off. "I hit them a few times...especially him," she snarled. Dakota sighed and pointed down a corridor, zira walking off, before she turned to the others. I'm sure you're all hungry."

"For something that's been cooked," said White Tiger.

"Sure there's something," said Dakota, taking Chris's arm and pulling him long. "I'd like a word with my boyfriend," she said, pausing at a guard. "Let the doctors out to play," she said quietly into his ear.

As Chris and Dakota walked away, Matt said to Spider-Man, "How much of a bad feeling are you getting? I'm getting one, but it may be tainted by my brotherly protective drive."

"A real bad one. For a start, where have the guards gone?" said Spider-Man, Matt looking around to see the sentries and Dakota's 'guards' had left.

"Well, that wasn't what I was going to point out, but now that you mentioned it..." said Matt.

Two sets of footsteps were heard at that, one of the pairs sounding heavy set. "Guys?" said Matt nervously, reaching for his blaster only to find it missing. He reached for his ion blade, but it was gone too. "Oh, I can't believe my own sister pickpocketed me," snapped Matt, "This is something I would have expected from NegaMorph."

The far doors shook under a blow at that, the group tensing up before a second blow knocked them over. What stomped through was a 10-foot tall lizard man with reddish-brown scales. He was clearly a _Stegosaurus_ from the shape of his beak, the large plates on his back, and the thagomizer on the end of his tail.

What came in next caused Matt to twitch. "Well, I guess it was too much to hope that we'd find Dr. Connors still human," said Spider-Man as the Lizard hissed at them.

Matt, meanwhile, began to giggle faintly, his eyes unfocusing and more importantly, him shifting to anthro form. "The queen wants your heads, monkeys," called the _S__tegosaurus_ before pausing, looking at Matt, "Whats wrong with him?"

"I don't think we're going to be losing our heads...in the physical sense anyways," said Kala as she took several long steps backwards.

"What have I got to fear from some half-bree" began the stego before Matt, with an almost feral scream of laughter, jumped at him, latching onto the stego's face, the stego falling back with a 'Wraaah...get it off."

"Yeah, I think Dakota forgot to account for Matt's anti-Lizard rages," said Kala.

"Sssspider-Maaan..." hissed the Lizard angrily, stalking forward, his villainous approach slightly spoiled as his partner hopped past, trying to shake Matt out the armor he was wearing over his scales.

"Dr. Connors, it's me. You're not under Ock's control, you don't have to be under Dakota's control. We can help you," said Spider-Man.

"Go back to being puny Connorsss? Queen Dakota promised to make sure he never comes back," hissed the Lizard angrily.

The lizard glared back as Stegron finally fell over, his chestplate bulging before Matt popped out, his eyes spinning and still grinning like a loon...before Stegron grabbed him by the neck, Matty making a squeaking noise. "You take him," said Stegron before throwing him at the Lizard.

The Lizard smirked as the giggling projectile was thrown at him, clawing Matt as he passed, causing Kala to scream in shock and Lana to glare.

"Ok, I guess I'll have to knock some sense into you," said Spider-Man before hitting Lizard with his tazer-webs.

Stegron growled, tearing a pillar up to throw at Spider-Man, only for White Tiger to slash his leg and Lana to blast him in the face with a torrent of water. At Zira's command, vines grew up from the ground to entangle Stegron, but he snapped them with ease. "Idiot mammal..." Stegron laughed, grabbing Lana by the tail and throwing her at Zira.

Coldlahd was trying to freeze the Lizard, but he wasn't slowing down as much as she hoping he would. "I adapt," hissed the Lizard, lunging only for a dazed Matt to take a potshot at him.

"And I recover fast," said Matt.

"Not as fast as me," sneered the Lizard lunging only to be webbed.

"Sorry, Connors. I'm not letting you go that easily this time," said Spider-Man.

"You could not ssstop me then. You won't now," sneered the Lizard before lunging.

"I know you're in there, Connors," said Spider-Man, "Last time, you were able to resist the Lizard. You can do it again."

"The queen wants you destroyed," hissed the Lizard.

"You don't have to obey her," said Spider-Man, "You're your own person, not a monster." The Lizard paused at that, though he was still glaring. "You're more than a lizard," said Spider-Man, "You're Doctor Curt Connors. You're not a monster to be let loose, a weapon to control. You're a scientist, a good man."

Matt glared, walking forward only for the Lizard to grip his head in pain, Stegron snapping "Stop pausing and gut them." trying to keep Lana clear of him.

"Is this really what you want to be? Do you really only want people to use you to attack others?" asked Spider-Man.

Stegron glared at Spider-Man, swiping Lana aside and heading towards Spider-Man with stomping in mind. He raised up his tail, getting ready to skewer Spider-Man on the spikes. But before he could swing, the Lizard tackled him with enough force to knock him back.

"Hey, you idiot! The enemy's the other guys!" snapped Stegron, trying to get the Lizard off.

"Ok, didn't expect that to actually happen," said Kala.

"Who are we cheering for?" said Matt dizzily, one of his eyes swollen.

* * *

Chris yelped as he was pushed into a empty throne room, Dakota slamming the doors. "Now it's just us," she said happily.

"Uh, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this," said Chris.

"Oh please. I can cure your bat look and once the others are dealt with we'll have each other," said Dakota happily, a distant crash heard.

"Wait, what?" asked Chris.

"Well, they'll just try to 'cure' me. I'm happy like this. I've got real power here," said Dakota camly.

"Sorry, but that's not the Chloe I know and love," said Chris.

"No, I'm better. Silvia will never control me. I'll never be kidnapped, turned into some minion or monster, and we can do actual good here," said Dakota calmly.

"And you're having everyone else cut up for scrap meat," said Chris.

"My brother? He's a half-insane mess," said Dakota offhandedly, before wincing, her head aching for a second.

"And Kala?" asked Chris.

"She was meant to be a bite-sized mammal," said Dakota with a laugh.

"Even Snowbell is in peril," protested Chris.

Dakota winced again. "That cat?" she managed.

"And you're letting those lizards have those kids even though they've never done anything to you?" snapped Chris.

"They'll just tell SHIELD. Can't have that,"laughed Dakota.

Chris glared. "You're not Chloe. I'm out," he snapped, turning to leave, only for Dakota to tackle him, hissing angrily.

"Then I'll just make you," she hissed, her hand glowing yellow.

Chris snarled and pushed her away. "I'm still stronger than you," he said.

Dakota laughed, before backhanding Chris flying. "Are you sure about that, love?" she laughed.

Chris got up and said, "I outweigh you by at least 50 pounds in human form and I have a lot more musculature than you."

"Then explain your flying lesson," sneered Dakota.

"Oh, that was when I wasn't pushing back," said Chris.

"Then by all means," sneered Dakota, giving a mocking bow.

Chris roared before lunging forward, swinging his fist at Dakota. To his great shock, Dakota caught his fist and held it there. "I'm still waiting," said Dakota with a smirk, before squeezing his wrist, his bones painfully grinding as her claws digged in before she tossed him over her shoulder, turning to face him.

"Ok, this time, I'm serious," said Chris before charging at Dakota. Dakota simply braced herself before catching Chris's arms. The two quickly got into a pushing match. "Chloe...you...gotta stop..." snarled Chris, Dakota being slowly forced back before her sickle claws anchored to the floor.  
"I don't have to stop, for you or anyone," said Dakota. Chris tried to push harder before he felt a sharp pain in his leg, looking down to see Dakota had kicked out with her sickle claw, Dakota pushing him off balance, readying her spell again. "And I never will again," she said, before her hand began to shake.

"So you're just ok with lying to, using, and abandoning everyone?" snapped Chris.

"I'd never use you..." said Dakota in a small voice before growling, firing the yellow blast, Chris rolling to avoid it.

"You sure seem find with lying to me about everything," said Chris, "I bet Sauron is still in here."

"No, he really did flew the coop," said Dakota, "But I did lie about those lizard cultists following him."

Chris paused as something went click behind him. "Should we end him, my queen?" asked the cultist holding the blaster.

"No, he's a keeper," said Dakota, "The others, do with what you wish."

"As you command," said the cultist Chris turning to see a good dozen heading for the sound of fighting, Chris reaching for his own blaster.

Dakota's hand gripped Chris's wrist painfully. "Sorry, but you're not-" she started before she started shuddering, her hand slowly letting go.  
"You can't fool me that easily," snarled Chris, aiming...

* * *

Mindscape

_"Get...off me__!__" snapped Dakota, Chloe holding her in an armlock._

_"No, I'm not letting myself become a tyrant," said Chloe._

_"Are you mad? We have power...and we can do a far better job then that fool, __S__auron, and without your brother holding you back__,__" snapped Dakota, throwing Chloe off._

_"Being queen of the dinosaurs isn't that appealing to me," said Chloe._

_"Then one of us has to GO!" snapped Dakota, lunging at Chloe._

_"We agree on that at least," said Chloe before hitting Dakota with a lightning bolt._

_Dakota staggered back before blasting at Chloe who ran to the side into the maze of her mindscape, which resembled the __C__ompanions__'__ headquarters back on __N__irn. "Where are you going? You'll like being me__,__" sneered Dakota, walking after her._

_"When did you get that impression?" called Chloe's voice._

_"Well, you won__'__t have a choice__,__" laughed Dakota, spotting Chloe and firing a blast that clipped her foot, which changed to a raptor one immediately.__"You won't be able to keep this up forever," called Dakota, "I'm stronger and faster than you and your electric powers won't keep you safe forever. So you may as well stop hiding."_

_"Not hiding," called Chloe, "I'm just getting my gear."_

_Dakota sighed, gr__a__bbing an arrow as it was fired at her, looking at it. "Please__,__" she sneered__._

_Chloe call__ed,__ "Not a normal arrow." Dakota examin__ed__ the arrow head which beeped and exploded in her face.  
Dakota coughed and said, "This kind of tricks are Matt's ploys."_

_"Good point," said Chloe's voice behind her. Dakota turned to see Chloe in werewolf form, wearing Nordic armor, and hefting a big mace. "Me, I'm the more up-close and personal type," said Chloe before swinging her mace._

* * *

Chris backed up as Chloe twitched, shifting rapidly between werewolf and raptor over and over. "Erm...go werewolves?" he said in confusion.

* * *

_Dakota crashed into the dining room__'__s table with a crash, getting up. "You little mammal freak. Don't you know this is better for us?" she snarled, rolling to the side as Chloe tried to foot stomp her snout._

_"I get along perfectly well with this form," said Chloe._

_"Though this isn't one your brother prefers," said Dakota, "He'd rather you'd be a dragon, wouldn't he?"_

_Chloe paused, only for a chair to hit her in the face. "Oh, did I strike __a__ nerve?" laughed Dakota, walking towards her, her claws glowing yellow._

_"No one's telling me what I should be, least of all you," growled Chloe._

_"Then why did you pause?" said Dakota smugly._

_"I don't have to explain myself to you," snapped Chloe._

_"But I think you do..." sneered Dakota, Chloe snarling and lunging, only for Dakota to sidestep. "Aw...hard to think straight?" the raptor sneered._

_"You know neither Matt or Chris will want me to be a dinosaur," said Chloe._

_"Your brother, the dragon? The one who spent a year among then and hardly even spends time as a human anymore?" laughed Dakota, adding, "Or the bat man who went feral?"_

_"He is not a bat man!" snapped Chloe._

_"Oh, you'd be amazed what our spies told me. He's most likely going to be just another animal" laughed Dakota__. __Chloe roared and leapt at Dakota._

_Dakota smirked before stabbing her glowing claws into Chloe who paused, scales spreading like liquid from impact. "Aw__, don't__ fight it.__I'll look after Chris...well...we will__,__" she sneered._

_"Probably a bad idea for me to be this close," said Chloe._

_"Why's that?" asked Dakota. Just then, Chloe grabbed Dakota's head and twisted it around with a loud snap._

_Chloe walked back, sighing before looking down to see the transformation still spreading. "No, no, no__,__" she muttered in panic, looking at Dakota's body, which was still sneering...a last laugh._

* * *

The struggle seemed to finally come to a stop, but Chloe's body was in raptor form. Chris got his blaster charged and aimed at her. The raptoress opened her eyes before noticing Chris aiming, and jumping back. "Chris, NO! It's me, it's me!" she said in a panic.

"That's not a convincing argument," said Chris.

"Really, it's me. Dakota's gone," the raptor said desperately, backing up.

"That's what Dakota would say," said Chris.

"Chris, please, she's gone," said the raptor desperately.

"Why should I believe you?" asked Chris.

The raptor hung her head. "You don't have any reason to..." she said softly.

Just then, they heard some screeching outside. "What's that?" asked Chris.

"Oh no," said the raptor, "I don't control the reptiles anymore." Two lizardmen smashed through the door at that, charging. PUT THOSE DOWN!" roared Chloe, the lizardmens' guns shaking, before they started to take aim...

Chris decided to end this quicker by picking up a chair and throwing it at the lizards.

"I almost had them!" snapped Chloe as the lizards crumpled before the far door opened, her 'guards' running in.

"Queen Dakota, they beat Connors and Stegron," gasped one of them, Chloe mouthing 'sorry' at Chris before punching him.

"We're too outmatched," said Chloe, "We have to run now."

"My queen?" said one of the others in confusion.

"I said run, take Stegron and run," snapped Chloe, thinking fast.

"But Connors-" started another.

"What about him?" snarled Chloe, the raptor saying "He's fighting with them."

"Then he's of no use to us," said Chloe.

The raptors looked at one another before running, Chloe sighing, before shuddering. The new body she had felt very weird, a constant dull hunger in her stomach as well as a feeling that she could snap any one of the raptors in half. Not to mention the feathers felt weird, particularly when the wind was blowing the wrong way.

Chris, rubbing his jaw, came up. "We'd better go help." he said, as Chloe took the crown off and peered at it. She couldn't admit it hadn't been tempting...power always was

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to get the cultists to stop," said Chloe.

"Then we stop them another way," said Chris kindly.

"Ok. So...I might be stuck like this for a while," said Chloe, "Do you think you could live with this?"

"I can get used to it, but we'd better save Matt," sad Chris.

* * *

Stegron finally got a grip on the Lizard, squeezing with an angry look. "You're a traitor to your species," the stego snarled, as what was left of the cultists ran in.

"Aren't you forgetting that you were human a few days ago?" asked Spider-Man as he was webbing up Stegron's legs.

"A weak, feeble human," snapped Stegron, tearing his legs free as the cultists opened fire.  
"Lana, do we need to take them in alive?" asked Matt.

"It's not his fault," snapped White Tiger, the cultists reloading.

Matt shrugged, "I don't think the cultists count...Lana?"

Lana glared and snapped, "They'd be executed at home anyway."

"All I wanted to know," said Matt before his hands started glowing blue.

The cultists turned, one blast turning one of them to ash before they seemed to panic. The cultists parted to let one point at Matt, "Destroyer...you dare rise again and threaten our people?"

"'Rise again' isn't the phrase I would use," said Matt.

"Well, you think the Navaki are not ready for you?" laughed the leader, another cultist reading some sort of shoulder weapon.

"What's that do?" asked Matt, before a yellow blast hit him, knocking him flying on a trail of smoke, and more pointedly, a singe on the wall behind him.

"MATT!" screamed Kala before rushing over.

"Destroy them!" yelled the leader, the shoulder cannon turning to aim.

A furious reptilian screech was heard at that, the last intact double doors being thrown open, Dakota walking through "What the hell is going on?" she yelled, the cultists pausing in shock before falling to their knees. Spider-Man quickly shot a pair of web blasts into Dakota's face. "Get this stuff off me!" she yelled.

Dakota staggered back at that, snapping something in a muffled voice, before Stegron shielded her from several blasts from Lana. "My queen...are you ok?" he asked. Dakota snapped something muffled. Stegon tore the webbing off before asking urgently "Queen Dakota?"

'Dakota' snapping, "Wrong" before Stegron's skeleton was lit up. Stegron twitched before falling backwards, his back plates sinking into the ground. 'Dakota' jumped down, the cultists looking surprised before she snapped angrily, "Just put the guns down and I'll _not_ kill you for trying to kill my brother."

The cultists looked hesitant. This did not sound like the Queen Dakota who promised to help them claim this planet for their own. "Dakota checked out," 'Dakota' said angrily.

The cultists hissed before aiming at the winged raptor. "You dare betray your kind?" snapped the leader, the cannon cultist aiming.  
"You are not my kind," said Chloe, rubbing her hands together as electricity crackled around her. At that, a blast of lightning shot out from her hands, arcing between the cultists. The cultists shuddered, many of them blackening. Chloe finally released her blast, the cultists falling down, sizzling and out cold. "That should...keep them down..." she said, suddenly feeling exhausted. She was too out of practice.

Lana nodded weakly. "So...what do we do with them? Our ship's half-broken," she said, poking one of the cultists who made a weird bubbling noise.

"I'm sure we can persuade EGIS to give you a ride home," said Chris.

* * *

"Not a chance in hell," snapped Karisa, crossing her arms.

"Well you can't just leave them here," said Matt, who had recovered but was very sore from where he was shot.

"Urgh...we can at least provide some repair nanites," sighed Karisa.

"That could take months," said Matt.

"Not the new models," said Karisa smugly. Matt glared, realising it had been a while since their ship had gotten a refit. "Though you realize the elementalized one can't go with her brethren," said Karisa.

Lana paused at that, before Matt agreed with a nod, "Not till she learns some control."  
"And there's only one place where she'll be able to learn it," said Karisa.

"Avalar...and McNeil can't get her there either," said Matt.

Lana snapped, "Do I get a say in this?" before she collapsed into a puddle, saying "Not...one...word."

"In the meantime, perhaps an enrollment at SHIELD Academy may be to her benefit," said Karisa.

"Hey, I'm 89!" snapped Lana.

* * *

"I shouldn't have to do this," said Lana in a sulking tone.

"Hey, I got attacked on a regular basis every day before I even got dragon powers. Least these guys have safeties," called Matt over the intercom, before looking at Cho, "They have safeties, right?"  
"Well, I've never had to design a training program for an elemental before," said Cho, "I mean, I've done a theoretical one with Sandman, but water has a different molecular-"

"Can you shut it down before it gets out of control?" asked Matt bluntly.

"That I can do," said Cho.

"Then let's get started," said Matt.

* * *

After returning to the Triskelion, Connors soon cloistered himself in his lab. Spider-Man was a bit concerned about how the experience could have affected him. Spider-Man landed in front of Connors's door before knocking. "Doc...you ok in there?" he said through the door with concern.  
"Spider-Man, come on in," said Connors's voice.

"Ok, that's a good sign, right? When a scientist becomes unhealthily obsessed with something, he tells everyone to go away, right?"  
Spider-Man opened the door before peering in. "Doc? What have you been working on?" he asked.  
Connors was working at a computer, going as fast as his one hand allowed him. "It really was a marvelous experience, wasn't it?" asked Connors excitedly.

Spider-Man nodded. "Yeah, it was fun...apart from the feral dinosaurs, mutant dinosaurs, and everything else trying to kill us," he said in joking sarcasm.  
"Oh, yes, that would be unpleasant," said Dr. Connors, "But the Navaki were a fascinating race, weren't they? They were the pinnacle of what this Lizard serum could really do."  
"Yeah...except they're aliens and half their crew tried to help Sauron," said Spider-Man.  
"But the other half were fully in control of themselves," said Connors, "They weren't driven to infect more people. How much I could learn from them. I may finally be able to help people with this serum. Maybe even control my transformations."

Spider-Man paused at that. Matt has explained the lengths the NSC had gone too to stop the Navaki when they were still feral, something still in living memory. "I don't think Matt would not be a fan of that idea. He seemed terrified of them."

"He's only see the bad side. If I can make them see-" started Connors.

"Listen, Curt, no one would be happier than me to see you get full control of the Lizard. But there are still a lot of risks. You need to take this slow and be careful," said Spider-Man.  
Connors opened his mouth to no doubt protest the plusses before pausing, remembering how the Lizard had been created in the first place; by rushing. "You're right. Rushing ahead was what created the Lizard in the first place."  
"Right. Maybe the Navaki can help you iron out the problems with the Lizard. But take your time with it. Doc Ock's not about to capture you again," said Spider-Man.

* * *

Ava meanwhile was in her room, looking at the amulet. Her mind was fully occupied on what she'd seen in there. She had thought she had learned as much of the amulet as she could, that she had tamed the tiger spirit more than any previous White Tiger. But she's barely scratched the surface. There was so much more hidden in the amulet. How old was this thing? Who made it and why?  
Her thought went to the vision she saw of K'un-lun while in the amulet. Maybe Danny could fill in some of the gaps.  
But that tiger spirit, it was so powerful, so savage. The fact that it overwhelmed her frightened her. But that was only because she had been exposed to that savage wildflower, right?  
No...sometimes the old saying, 'let sleeping tigers lie' was a good saying to follow.

* * *

"Scanning subject," said a small medical drone, bathing Chloe in a blue light.

"Is this necessary?" she said calmly.

"It's standard procedure to have a full examination after every major transformation or shift in powers," said the medical drone.

Chloe said dryly, "Blah, blah, blah. Heard it all before." before the drone said "Mutation gene's detected...local variety. No current cure available."

"In other words, I have to wait for the Bladestorm to arrive so I can receive gene therapy. And until then, I'm stuck looking like a refugee from a pulp magazine," said Chloe dryly.

Kala raised a hand at that, "Erm, actually pulp magazines were printed before evidence that raptors had feathers...aaand you're not in the mood for constructive criticism."

"I'm so glad that you're back," growled Chloe.

"Hey, at least you get to stay in the superheroine business. I'm benched until I can get my fire back," said Kala.

Zira raised a hand, "Hey, not all heroes have powers. You could still do some damage."

"Except Matt will think I'm made of delicate silk," said Kala.

"Prove him wrong then, sis," said Zira innocently.

"In the meantime, I have to go with a new identity for my new form," said Chloe with a groan, "I can only imagine how much SHIELD paperwork I'd need to fill out for that."

"Scanning...the timeline indicates the Superhero Registration Act of M-616 does not exist in this verse. No paperwork is required," said the drone.

"Oh, thank goodness," said Chloe, "I did not want have to deal that drama. I still need a new name."

"You can still go by Dakota," said Kala, "No one else saw you being a villain and, well, it suits you better than Utah."

"Hmm...I like it," said Chloe happily.

* * *

However, not everyone taken to the Savage Land had returned. Stegron had managed to slip away while the heroes were dealing with the remaining Navaki cultists. And he wasn't alone...though he was starting to wish he was.

The uplifted raptor pack had decided to follow him around. "When are you gonna turn us back?" said one of the females, wearing some rags she'd nabbed from a dead cultist.

"I don't know how," snapped Stegron, "And why would you want to be turned back? Don't you realize there are so many advantages to being like this?"

"Like what? This sucks. We were never bothered by modesty before," snapped another raptor, all of them in some form of looted clothing.

"You are missing the bigger picture," said Stegron, "You are smarter, stronger, and more versatile than ever before."

"Oh, you mean those human blasters and flying machines that all left?" said another sarcastically.

"They learn too quick," muttered Stegron before saying, "But do you not see that now we are superior over dinosaurs and humans alike?"

"Hey...didn't Sauron say the same thing to that female? And she kicked his butt off his throne," laughed one of the other raptors.

"Sauron was short-sighted and arrogant," said Stegron.

"And you're not?" asked a raptor.

"This power we have would be accepted by all if it was given, not forced," said Stegron, "All humanity would want to become more than what they are and we can give it to them." One raptor, with wall eyes, raised a hand. "Yes, the idiotic-looking one at the back," sighed Sauron, pointing at him.

"Erm...vy ve make prey stronger?" it asked, the other raptors nodding in agreement

"There are better things to eat than humans," said Stegron, "Once you've had beef, you'll never want anything else."

There was a pause before another raptor asked "What beef?" Stegron facepalmed. This was gonna take some work.

* * *

And there's the final chapter of the Savage Land arc. There will be a few things that will be carried on the rest of the story. Namely Chloe's new form and powers that come with it. There's also a bit of unfinished business with White Tiger. I'm not sure when we'll see Stegron again though. After a busy week like that, I need to work on some more chapters so there's going to be a brief hiatus as I get things ready. Keep an eye out for when chapters start posting again and please review.


	13. Ultimate Deadpool (He's Back)

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 13: Ultimate Deadpool (He's Back)**

"After all the craziness down in the Savage Land, it's good to be back in New York. Though things aren't quite the same. Kala has been put on the bench until she gets her fire powers back, Chloe has to deal with being a feathered dinosaur, and we've got a new teammate, Lana, who needs training in-"

"Enough about these guys. Who cares about original characters, right?"

"Yep, it's me again, boys and girls. You readers have been wanting me back, you know you do. It's time for some Ultimate Deadpool. Oh yeah! And what are we doing today, you ask? Well, I hear there's a big bounty on some half-dragon mutant witch girl or something I need da moneh. Problem is, intel's a little low, so I'm dropping by to see someone who knows about her. Isn't this gonna be fun?"

"We're going to 'ask' one of her featherbrains and if he doesn't talk..."

* * *

Falcore sat calmly, cross-legged. He could remember when he'd been human...and how chaotic he'd been. One plus of being a model prisoner meant he'd picked up some meditation lessons, after asking, from Iron fist.

Didn't quite do enough to alleviate the boredom though. He wished he had a book to read, preferably one that wouldn't get ripped when he turned the pages.

"Maybe they can install a television?" he muttered before pausing, his senses picking up something before one of the worst disguised intruders he had ever seen walked into view. The guy was dressed in red and black and, for some reason, has a fake moustache glued to his mask.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Mr. Falcore," said the guy in an obviously fake deep voice.

"You have found him. Give me one reason not to scream for security...who...should have been guarding this place already," muttered Falcore in a small amount of confusion.

"Yeah, had a bit of an old class reunion. You wanna see what happened?" asked the guy.

* * *

A few minutes earlier...

"Guys, you ever get the feeling today's gonna be a bad day but you don't know why yet?" asked Spider-Man.

"Isn't that how your spider-sense generally works?" asked Matt.

"This isn't a spider-sense thing. This...is just a vague premonition feeling," said Spider-Man.

"Oh, you mean Mondays. Come to think of it..." said Matt.

Chloe came in at that. "Guys...you get the feeling someone said 'what can possibly go wrong'?" she asked.

"I was just mentioning that," said Matt. Just then, a doorbell rang. "Does the Triskellion have a doorbell?" asked Matt.

"Uh, no," said Spider-Man, "But it sounded like it came from..." He walked to the door leading outside and opened. Sitting out there was a large red box wrapped in black ribbons.

"The hell?" muttered Matt, walking slowly towards it with Chloe, who snarled at it and asked "Who the hell would send us a parcel?"

"This almost seems like... No, it couldn't be," said Spider-Man.

Chloe reached forward, before gently tearing some paper off.

Just then, the top burst off and a lot of confetti shot out, followed by a guy in a red and black suit who jumped out. "Hey everyone, look who's back!" he yelled cheerfully.

"Deadpool!" said Spider-Man.

"You got it, my slightly imitative old buddy," said Deadpool, "You oughta change up the design a bit, look a little less like _moi_."

Matt paused, before his eyes narrowed, bringing his target into focus. "You…" he snarled.

"Oh yeah, the grumpy guy who bust into the bar and blew a hole in my guts," said Deadpool, "That was a fun cameo, but now it's a full chapter."

"What are you doing here? We're not likely to let you hack the SHIELD database this time," said Spider-Man.

Chloe raised an eyeridge. "Again?" she asked.

"Oh, no way, awesome sauce," said Deadpool, suddenly next to Chloe, "You've got a dino-babe? You've totally been holding out on me. Where did you get her? Look at these feathers. Guess we're stick with the 'accurate' idea of what dinosaurs looked like. But dinosaurs don't have wings. I so want one." As he was talking, he was touching Chloe all over.

Chloe's eyes slowly narrowed before she slapped Deadpool across the room. "No touching! It's bad enough I have to preen every morning," she snarled.

"Mind if I show myself in? I need to use the little mercenary's room," said Deadpool before walking through the door and closing it.

"Did he just lock us outside?" asked Matt.

"Yup," said Chloe, her eye twitching.

* * *

"Really? You expect me to believe you beat a dragon that easily?" sneered Falcore

"Oh, just slowed him down a bit," said Deadpool, taking off the mustache, "The other guys here weren't that hard to deal with. Just needed a little of El Stinko Mondo."

Falcore paused. "I don't want to know what that means. Now is there a reason you're here?" he said.

"Yeah, there's this girl I'm trying to get in touch with but she's a little off the grid," said Deadpool, "You might know her: grey skin: five eyes, four arms?"

"I'm going to cut you off there. I may not like her but I cannot betray her," said Falcore calmly, getting up and cricking his neck.

"You know, 'cannot' is a funny word. I mean, why do people still use it anymore? Why doesn't everyone just say 'can't'? What do people have against contractions? For instance..." Suddenly, Deadpool had Falcore right up against the wall and saying in a threatening tone, "I'm not leaving empty-handed. So tell me where to find her or I'll start doing this preening everyone's been talking about."

Falcore raised an eyebrow before flicking his talon, and the arm pinning him fell off. "Pathetic," he muttered, before walking towards the open door.

Before he got too far, he slipped on something very slippery. "Not so fast, jailbird," said Deadpool, putting his arm back on, "You weren't finished singing yet."

Falcore looked down to see a banana skin. "You have to be kidding. I am honestly trying to avoid turning you into mince...but if you insist…" he said angrily, his eyes glowing white before the wind in the corridor began to pick up. Just then, a bunch of oil hit him in the face. "Ugh! My eyes!" he snapped.

"Oil spills are no laughing matter," said Deadpool, "Hundreds of animals are put in jeopardy when an oil tanker has an accident. Do your environment a favor and bathe an oily boid."

Falcore snapped, "What the hell are you-glub." he managed before Deadpool tackled him and shoved a stick of soap in his mouth.

"Scrubby, scrubby, let's make you nice and clean," said Deadpool before pouring dish soap over Falcore's face and scrubbing him extra hard.

Falcore managed, "Get...off...ME!" before a cyclone spread out from him like a blastwave. "That was the worst bath I ever had," grumbled Falcore. He tried to get up, but now the floor was too sudsy for him to stand up on. "This is demeaning," he muttered, his wings still too wet to take off.

"Now, now, you just got yourself clean," said Deadpool, walking back. He took out his swords and in a maniacal voice, "You don't want to get bloody, do ya?"

"Is there a reason you are after my lady?" Falcore asked with a sigh.

"Yeah, somebody-" started Deadpool.

Just then, a little imaginary devil Deadpool kicked his head and said in a tiny voice, "Don't tell him about the bounty, dummy. Tell him some sob story about you need to find her for some dumb noble reason."

A second one appeared, an angel Deadpool, "No, you must be honest. It's not like he can do anything."

The Devilpool snapping, "Says you." the two lunging at each other.

From Falcore's point of view, Deadpool seemed to have paused. "Somebody really needs her help," said Deadpool, "There's this little girl who's fallen under a spell cast by an evil gnome and I need an expert in that magic junk to help her."

"Then why not ask Doctor Strange?" asked Falcore.

"We're...not in a good place right now," said Deadpool.

* * *

Many things had visited the Sanctum Sanctorum over the years, but having a horde of Deadpool-uniformed monkeys was a first. Dr. Strange glared before muttering "Deadpool."

* * *

"Well, it's worth noting that my mistress is a villain," said Falcore calmly.

"This could be an opportunity for her to redeem herself," said Deadpool. Falcore gave him a dubious look. "Hey, how about I let you out of this super-teen high school and give you a coupon for one free sub sandwich?" asked Deadpool.

"Ham and mustard and you have a deal," said Falcore.

* * *

"Ok, he's got to have left one door unlocked," said Spider-Man, looking around the hangar.

"Why don't I just blow up the door?" said Matt icily.

"I'm trying to avoid damage to the place while Nick is away right now," said Spider-Man, "At least he wasn't here to see Deadpool again."

"How bad is this guy? I blew a six-inch hole in him last time. He should be in traction," snapped Matt.

"He's got a really good healing factor," said Spider-Man, "Not to mention a lot of weapons and being completely unpredictable."

"Great..." said Matt sarcastically, before the door in front of them was sliced into four neat sections.

"Ok, that should be-" started Spider-Man before the door fell away and a foul-smelling cloud of gas wafted out. Spider-Man, Matt, and Chloe were soon covering their noses and coughing loudly.

Deadpool walked out the door and waved a hand in front of his face. "Do not go in there," he said, "Phew, last time I eat Indian and Mexican on the same day."

A second figure, Falcore staggered out. "You did that on purpose, you...jerk," he gagged.

"No one's stopping us, right?" asked Deadpool.

"There's rules against chemical weapons," managed Falcore before Matt tackled with him a snarl.

Chloe and Spider-Man blocked Deadpool. "You're after Megan..." Chloe snarled, her claws starting to glow green along with her eyes.

"Where'd you hear that? Were you reading the earlier part?" asked Deadpool.

"You're a mercenary, and Megan's bound to have eventually pissed off someone with cash," snapped Chloe.

"But mostly we looked at your blog," said Spider-Man, "Also, '#nextonmyhitlist'? Why would anyone post that?"

"I have alot of followers," said Deadpool defensively.

"I'm not letting a nutcase like you anywhere near her," snarled Chloe.

"Dakota..." warned Spider-Man as Chloe advanced on the merc, glowing claws out.

"Let's see what you look like as a triceratops," she snarled.

"Interesting idea, but this face is too pretty for three horns," said Deadpool, "So I'm gonna have to give you this." With that, he tossed a lit bomb into Dakota's hands. Dakota looked down more out of surprise then anything before the bomb sent her flying

"Hey, Spidey, wanna tag along for old time's sake?" asked Deadpool, putting an arm around Spider-Man's shoulder, "I mean, that old Taskmaster thing is all water under the bridge, right?"

Matt, who had a struggling Falcore in a headlock, snapped, "Of course he won't! You're a complete fruit loop and I know fruit loops."

"He's right. Not gonna happen," said Spider-Man, pushing Deadpool's arm away.

"Yeah, knew you'd say that. So I left ya a little something," said Deadpool. Then Spider-Man heard something beeping on his back.

Chloe got up dazed and muttered "Sticky bomb." before she tensed up. "STICKY BOMB?"

Deadpool paused next to Falcore as the others ran over to Spider-Man. "Don't just stand there. Help me up," the bird splicer snapped.

"I got you outside, didn't I?" asked Deadpool, "Wait, did I give you the coupon yet?" He paused, putting a small Subway coupon on the hogtied splicer's head before running for it.

"DEADPOOL, YOU'RE DEAD!" yelled Falcore, which kinda synced to Matt and Chloe that it was Matt's alternate under the genetic manipulation.

"Don't worry. You won't be tied up for long!" called Deadpool as he hopped into a SHIELD jet.

Falcore sighed before seeing three pairs of feet. "I had my reasons," he muttered.

"What did you tell him?" asked Matt.

"Where Lady NegaMorph was. I expected to lead him into an ambush," said Falcore in an annoyed tone.

"I almost want to see that," said Dakota.

"Except now he is on his way to her," snapped Falcore.

"Somehow, I doubt he's going to be taking her to a correctional facility," said Spider-Man.

* * *

Flintwing walked towards Lady NegaMorph's room, with Taurus. "We can't just leave Falcore in the lockup," she said to him.

"He doesn't seem to be a high priority," said Taurus, "Lady NegaMorph seems more interesting in working on Zack. Though admittedly, a fish isn't really that much use to anyone."

"Hah...remember how weak we used to be?" sneered Flintwing, adding, "Lord knows what Zack will end up as."

"You think he'll be a hippocampus?" asked Taurus.

"Where did you get that idea?" asked Flintwing with a dubious tone.

"Well, you're half horse, I'm half horse..." said Taurus.

"You're all bull," said Flintwing.

The two ceased their argument as Lady NegaMorph walked down with a smug expression. "Boss lady...erm...when are we rescuing Falcore?" asked Taurus.

"Not too long," said Lady NegaMorph, "I want to see how our new aquatic warrior will do."

"Not too long?" snapped Flintwing before wilting under Lady Nega's glare. Luckily there was a knock at that, a deep voice saying "Chimichanga delivery."

"Who ordered out?" demanded Lady NegaMorph.

"Wasn't me. They put shredded chicken in those things," shuddered Flintwing.

Taurus shrugged, "Not me...wasn't hungry." Everyone turning to look at the door.

"Somebody please open," said the voice outside, "These things are hot." Just then, the door started to melt.

The group jumped back as a brief gout of flame came through the door, a figure visible through the smoke tossing a laser cannon aside. "Who the he...KILL HIM!" snapped Lady NegaMorph, pointing.

Flintwing's beak lit up before she breathed fire at the figure. "Ooooh, spicy chicken." laughed the figure before a stream of extinguisher flam hit the hippogriff in the beak. Flintwing coughed and gagged before the fire extinguisher hit her in the head.

Taurus snorted before charging, only to stagger out the other side with a red blanket over his head and running into a wall with a crunch. "Ole!" yelled the figure, catching a rose that seemed to have come out of nowhere, "You know, I didn't order steak with my chicken. I need to eat slimmer."

Lady NegaMorph, before calling in a sweet voice, "Oh, darling." A wall began to crack before Gary smashed through.

"What is going out here?" asked Gary before seeing a figure dressed in red and black, "Spider-Man?"

"No, totally not. That dude totally copies my style," said the figure, "The name's Deadpool, which rhymes with 'too cool for Spidey's school, look out for the power tool'."

Gary looked around at the unconscious splicers. "Not a social call," he muttered, shifting to Nightclaw.

"Honey?" asked Lady Nega, before saying in a dark tone, "Crush every bone in his body to a fine powder."

"With pleasure, ma cherie," said Nightclaw. But when he turned back, Deadpool was gone. "Where did he go?" asked Nightclaw.

"I said look out for the power tool," said Deadpool who landed on Nightclaw's back and started using a jackhammer on it."

Nightclaw roared angrily, reaching up and grabbing Deadpool in his hands and squeezing till things stopped crackling.

"That takes care of that," said Nightclaw, "Megan, I think it's time we moved."

"Agreed, for once. Get those layabouts up," said Lady NegaMorph.

Nightclaw walked over to Flintwing and Taurus and said, "Get up. He didn't hit you that hard." Just then, someone tapped on his shoulder. "Yes, ma cher?" asked Nightclaw, turning. However, something was shoved into his mouth, followed by a strong electric charge through his body.

Lady Nega turned in horror as the 'dead merc' finished shocking her last line of defense down. "Ok, feeling a little woozy. Now let's see who's worth the bounty," said Deadpool before turning to face Lady Nega.

"Stay back!" snapped Lady Nega, getting into an attack position.

Perhaps his brain wasn't getting enough blood to it right now, but Deadpool didn't see a big bounty for him to bag. He saw a bodacious babe that he wanted to grab. "Whoa, mama. Where you been all my life?" asked Deadpool. The next second a blast of dark magic embedded him in the wall. "Playing...hard to get," rasped Deadpool.

"Did Matt send you here? I forget what his alias is," said Lady Nega.

"Cupid sent me here, sweetie," said Deadpool, pulling himself out of the wall, "Actually, it was some guy called...I forget his name. But no payday's worth more than you, babe."

"Are you...hitting on me?" said Lady Nega in disgust.

"I know you wanna hit on me," said Deadpool, "All the ladies do."

"You are so right," sneered Lady Nega, several metal crates lifting up in her magic as she shifted to dragon form.

"Just when I thought you couldn't get any hotter," said Deadpool in awe.

Lady Nega's reaction was to pummel him with the boxes before torching the pile. Lady Nega turned to the others and said, "Ok, we're going to need to clear out so-"

Suddenly, a bouquet of flowers was shoved under her face. "I hope you're not allergic. I can get hypoallergenic," said Deadpool.

"But I fried you. You shouldn't even be ashes," snapped Lady Nega.

"Didn't anyone tell you about my healing factor? No? You need to get out more," said Deadpool before saying suggestively, "Where would you like me to take you?"

The response was him being crushed under her claws. "Ok, so now can we," started Lady Nega before chocolates were presented before her. "I know everyone's counting calories these days, but you can't say no to chocolates," said Deadpool.

Lady Nega snarled, using her tail to wrap up the merc and lift him to eye level. "Are you some kind of chaos spirit? Where are you getting this stuff?" she snarled.

"Maybe I can tell you over dinner," said Deadpool suggestively.

Lady Nega growled and tightened before she began to feel a little sleepy, noticing a dart in her tail. "Oh...you asshole..." she managed, her voice getting slurred.

"How about we take this to someplace more scenic?" asked Deadpool.

"No!" yelled Nightclaw, who had partially recovered, his gargoyle skin now definitely flesh.

"You mind staying down? Trying to have a little chat with the lady," said Deadpool.

"She's my girlfriend!" snapped Nightclaw.

Deadpool glanced between Nightclaw and Lady Nega. "Hmm, you know, I think she can do way better," said Deadpool.

Lady Nega snarled, her eyes unfocussing as, for a second, Megan took the wheel. "Don't insult my BOYFRIEND!" she snapped, throwing Deadpool out the window and into the harbor outside.

"Megan?" asked Nightclaw hopefully, shifting back to Gary.

Lady Nega shook the dizziness away before snapping, "Let's just go. If he'd managed one more dart, I'd have been out." shifting down to anthro form.

"Oh, you are out, toots," said a voice. The two of them turned only for them to be both covered in separate nets. "Going out with me, that is," said Deadpool, grabbing Lady Nega and walking towards the door, "Later, monsters. Hey, gargoyle, go find a church to sit on."

"No! Megan!" snapped Nightclaw, trying to break free.

"Oh, one more thing," said Deadpool before a lit bomb rolled in front of Nightclaw.

"Shit, shit, shit" snapped Flintwing, trying to get away from it before a blast of water extinguished the fuse, but by then Deadpool was long gone.

"Ok, we're not going to die," said Flintwing before she heard a growl. She looked up to see some sort of monster looming over her, something that looked like a huge wolf wearing the skin, dorsal fin, and tail of an orca and with teeth enough for both of them. "Yet..." squeaked Flintwing.

The wolf thing smirked at that. "Gotcha," he teased, helping Flintwing up, "I heard the commotion from my splice tank. Who was that joker?"

"Apparently that was Deadpool," said Taurus as he got up, "Is that you, Zack?"

"Actually, I think Akhlut would suit me better," said the orca-wolf. The others gave each other confused looks. "It's a creature from Inuit mythology, half wolf, half killer whale," said Akhlut, a little annoyed.

"I always thought that you were Cherokee," said Taurus.

"No, I told you my family's from Alaska. You never listen," said Akhlut.

"Look, we need to focus. That merc stole the mistress. WE MUCH CRUSH HIM!" snapped Taurus.

"Worse than that," snapped Nightclaw, "He was stealing my girlfriend!"

"Ok...so where does he live?" said Zack, an awkward silence falling, "Ok, tell me someone _other_ than Falcore actually got to leave this place.

"Technically Manticora, but she's still in the chamber," said Taurus.

Just then, they heard barking. They looked to see Weirdwolf sniffing the floor. "Weirdwolf, can you smell Megan?" said Nightclaw, the splicers exchanging a bewildered look.

"Megan's smell, yes," said Weirdwolf.

"Ok, lead the way," said Nightclaw encouragingly, before he turned to the others, "You know I disagree with Me-...Lady NegaMorph on violence. But I think tonight, we can make an exception." The splicers all grinning toothily...or, in Flintwing's case, just grinning.

* * *

"Yeah, I didn't trust Deadpool for a second. And yeah, I kinda knew he was putting something on my back. But what he didn't know was I was putting something on his back. An improved spider-tracer, now with wi-fi connection, visual link, and guaranteed not to multiply into an insane swarm."

"This is not the time for monologuing," snapped Falcore, attached as the guide to Megan's hideout. His cooperation was helped as Matt had a blaster aimed at him.

"Pardon me if I think you might lead us the wrong way to your mistress," said Spider-Man.

"I gave you my word, did I not?" said Falcore, looking at Matt with what could only be described as a dark look.

"If nothing else, he'll at least want some payback on Deadpool," said Matt.

"Indeed...but we may be overlooking this. There are three of my brethren there as well as Nightclaw. Your Deadpool may think twice," said Falcore calmly.

"Well, he was good enough to take on Taskmaster and his army of mercenaries," said Spider-Man, "I don't know what his track record with monsters is."

"Hmm...turn left here. Warehouse 431," said Falcore calmly, looking down a small road that led to a disused area of the docks.

"It's always the docks, isn't it?" asked Spider-Man. "It's a classic location," said Matt.

"We chose an area SHIELD had recently been through. Where one of Octavius's laboratories was," said Falcore smugly, "Why would SHIELD look for us in a place they had already examined?"

"Makes sense," said Spider-Man before looking at his watch, "Wait, why does Deadpool seem to be going away from here?"

"What?" snapped Falcore, before several blasts shot from below.

"Hey! Who shot that?" snapped Matt.

Falcore peered down before sneering, "My fellows." before, even before Matt or anyone could react, he went into a nosedive towards the group.

"Hey, not so fast," said Spider-Man, dropping after him.

* * *

1 minute earlier.

"Ok, so which way next, ya mutt?" said Zack.

Flintwing looked up before she called, "Hey, heroes," spitting a fireball upwards.

"We don't have time for this," snapped Nightclaw.

The splicers weren't listening though, laughing as they began firing upwards, except for Taurus who picked up a car and threw it...before said car was smashed to pieces as Falcore landed. "Urgh, I spend a few weeks in prison and you let it fall apart, Nightclaw," he sneered.

"I have my priorities in order, they don't," said Nightclaw.

Spider-Man landed nearby at that. "Ok, so we got a hippogriff, a minotaur+, a gargoyle... and a dragonwolf and a whalewolf?"

Falcore looked at his side of the group. "Ironically they're with me. I'm assuming Deadpool got here first," he said, glaring at them. "And then you shot at them and me," he said in a voice overflowing with arctic temperature.

"You're allying with SHIELD?" growled Taurus.

"Of convenience. This Deadpool does not seem the sort to hand his quarry to the police," said Falcore icily.

"And whoever put that price on her head probably doesn't want her decorating advice," said Spider-Man.

Nightclaw and Weirdwolf walked forward, Weirdwolf padding ahead and jumping up at Spider-Man, sniffing him, before panting happily. Nightclaw smiled, "He is a good judge of character, monsieur."

"Uh, good dog," said Spider-Man, patting Weirdwolf's head.

Weirdwolf barked happily, going to lick Spider-Man before both Matt and Nightclaw pulled Weirdwolf off. "Acid saliva," explained Matt.

"Enough talk," said Flintwing, "Where is Deadpool?"

Spider-Man checked his watch and said, "Well, according to my spider-tracer, he's in...Central Park?"

"Central Park? That's an idiotic place. The police would be all over him," said Matt.

Falcore nodded before a female voice Chloe recognized screamed, "So...lock me in the speed healer and go out for pizza?"

"Is that who I think it is?" asked Matt.

Falcore just nodded, Matt sensing the shame going off him as he stepped aside to let the voice's owner come into view. Unlike the others, this splicer's human features were more obvious. Her body's dimensions hadn't change asides from putting on a little more muscle and her legs becoming digigrade. And while her face still had a few feline features, it was still obviously Chloe. But there were still some abnormal additions, like the scorpion tail growing out of her spine and the bat wings on her back.

"Manticora, we didn't leave. Lady NegaMorph has been kidnapped and these...heroes are helping us rescue her," said Falcore calmly.

"What did she do to you?" asked Matt, horror in his voice.

Manticora looked at Matt before saying in a curious tone, "Do I know you?"

"Not truly," said Matt a little forlornly.

"Matt, don't beat around the bush about," said Chloe, "That's what got her nabbed."

"Falcore...who are these idiots?" asked Manticora.

"SHIELD heroes, that's all I know," said Falcore.

"Oh, come on!" snapped Matt.

Falcore walked forward, pulling Matt back. "Should I tell her who we both are?" he snarled.

"Why-" started Matt before stopping himself. He knew why, why he wanted to keep Chloe out of this. "Fine," he finally said.

Falcore nodded, calling to the others, "We head for Central Park."

* * *

When Lady Nega started to come to again, she thought she heard water. Getting her eyes to focus, she saw that she was surrounded by water. Further attention revealed she was sitting in a rowboat. "Oh God no..." she muttered, the connection quickly made.

"Nice little spot, isn't it?" Lady Nega turned to see the boat's other occupant.

"Deadpool, let me be clear: I hate you. I hate you beyond any possible measurement. NOW LET ME GO!" she snapped.

"Go where? We're in the middle of a lake," said Deadpool teasingly. Lady NegaMorph spread her wings and took off. "Oh, you can fly. Should have thought of that."

"And I can do this," said Lady Nega, smugly, sending a beam of magic out that sliced a hole in the boat.

"Oh, you silly little minx. Claiming you hate me and trying to sink our love boat. But I know your games. I just know that you're blubalabalaba..." said Deadpool, the last part being when his head sank into the water.

"Urgh, this is getting stupid," muttered Lady Nega, pulling out a comm unit. "Nightclaw, tell me you're on your way," she snapped.

She got warbled radio static before an unwanted voice said, "Sorry, your call has been redirected to someone a lot more handsome."

She glared down before firing a destruction spell into the lake where the boat had been. "Just drown already," she snapped.

"You know, the water looks good from up here," said the voice. Lady Nega turned to see Deadpool beside her. "Check it out, I got a jetpack. Now we can go on a flying date," he said.

"I swear to God I will shove you in a black soul gem," muttered Lady Nega before trying to fly for it.

Deadpool got ready to chase before a phone rang in one of his many pockets before a voice said, "Deadpool, we are not paying you to seduce villains."

"Then you shouldn't send me after the hot ones," said Deadpool, "Look at her, she's at least a 7.7 on the hotness chart, probably 9.4"

"Deadpool, you can choose to do the job or NOT GET PAID!" snapped the voice.

"You people are just no fun," said Deadpool with a pout.

"NOW, DEADPOOL!" screamed the voice before Deadpool hung up.

"Oh well..." he said before saying in his dark voice, "Back to business."

* * *

Meanwhile, Spider-Man and the, er, others had arrived at Central Park. "Ok, this is a big place so we may need to spread out," said Spider-Man.

Weirdwolf sniffed the air before running into the undergrowth. "Weirdwolf's got a scent," called Matt, before a couple of screams were heard. "That sounds like the wrong set of screams," said Matt.

Dakota looked through the bush and said flatly, "He just broke up a couple's picnic. Not our couple." Weirdwolf trotted back, burping happily.

"Ok, who's got the cash to pay for the traumatized lover's picnic?" asked Matt. Everyone looked at him at that. "Haaaate…" he muttered.

* * *

One payment later...

Ok, Weird, FIND MEGAN!" Snapped Matt.

"Maybe I should be the one tracking her," said Akhlut. Weirdwolf turned to Akhlut as he continued "What's one little mutt supposed to-" before Weirdwolf grew to tower over him, snarling "-loyal, clever mutant dog." said Akhlut, without missing a beat.

"Since when could Weirdwolf do that?" squeaked Chloe.

"Since he drank that gamma potion," said Nightclaw.

Weirdwolf shrank back down and sat down in dog form, wagging his tail.

"Ok, now find Megan before Deadpool gets away," snapped Matt.

"Yo, you rang?" asked Deadpool, stepping out behind a tree, "Hey, don't want to keep you all waiting and stuff, but I need to borrow the lawn ornament for a while. See ya later." With that, he grabbed Gary and ran behind the bushes.

Matt and Falcore in unison fired their blasts, resulting in several dozen falling trees that immediately fell into two neat slices. "Those trees don't grow back up overnight, you know," said Spider-Man.

"We were trying to stop that annoyance. Splicers, spread out. Most of you have as good a nose as Weirdwolf," Falcore said calmly.

"He can't have gone far," said Flintwing.

Just then, a big cloud of noxious brown gas blew in. "Oh, not again," groaned Dakota.

Falcore glared lifting a few feet of the ground and flapping hard. "Not this time, fool," he said in a low voice.

The cloud blew away before it could reach them ."Ok, that's a relief," said Dakota.

"What does he want with Nightclaw anyways?" asked Taurus.

"Either bait for drawing out Lady Nega or getting rid of the competition," said Dakota.

"After that gargoyle!" called Matt, changing to dragon and taking off, Dakota flying after him.

* * *

DEADPOOOL!" roared Nightclaw.

"Yeah, that's mah name," said Deadpool, "Now, less about me, more about her. She seems to have a thing for you and, for some weird reason, she doesn't seem to have that thing with me. Care to explain that?"

"You wish for the truth?" said Nightclaw angrily.

"The Deadpool charm is irresistible," said Deadpool, "Hasn't been a lady yet who would say no."

"You are an uncouth fool, who barely thinks one step ahead. You have no idea of romance, unlike my fellow French. You have no chance with her," sneered Nightclaw.

"Oh, I get it now," said Deadpool, "She's got a thing for French guys. Bet she even digs that Batroc guy, right?"

Gary glared at that, before charging Deadpool. Deadpool sidestepped Gary, not even appearing to realize she was attacking. "So I just need to whip up a little Parisian charm and she'll be all over me. Easy enough. How hard could it be?" said Deadpool.

"I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU TOUCH HER!" roared Nightclaw.

"And as for you, I got you a return ticket," said Deadpool.

Mind-twisting confusion wasn't often a good way of stopping rampaging anger, except in Deadpool's case. Nightclaw paused and asked, "Excuse me?"

"I'm sending ya home, _mon ami_," said Deadpool, "Fastest way possible."

Nightclaw looked confused before Deadpool kicked him back against something behind him...something metal. "What the-" started Gary before Deadpool clamped against it.

"Buckle up. Seatbelts save lives," said Deadpool.

Nightclaw heard a whine getting higher pitched before he glared. "You didn't…" he began before the rocket booster ignited and sent him skywards.

"Yeah, have fun in France! Eat plenty of frog legs and snails! _Au revoir_!" yelled Deadpool as the rocket flew out of the city.

Deadpool's phone rang again at that. "Deadpool, tell me you have her. And if I even think you're still after her romantically, you are _not_ getting paid," snapped the voice.

"Relax. I'm just getting rid of some competition," said Deadpool, "So many people are after her bountiful, I mean, her bounty."

"For that, I'd deducting $100,000 off your fee," said the voice angrily.

"$100,000?!" snapped Deadpool, losing his playful attitude for once, "That's just, you can't, grrrrrr!" He paused and said, "Any of the younger readers should cover their ears. Or skip this part, whatever."

"I am gonna deduct another 100 grand each 30 minutes you _don't_ deliver Lady Nega to my men," snapped the voice.

Deadpool would have gone totally red if that wasn't already his main color scheme. "Ok, ok, you get your point," said Deadpool, "I'll get you your girl."

"Alive, Deadpool. Alive, or you take her place," snapped the voice.

"I wasn't going to un-alive her," said Deadpool.

His little Devilpool said sarcastically, "Oh yeah, totally. Weren't thinking that at all."

"My team will be landing soon. Now get her NOW!" snapped the voice before it went dead.

"Last time I deliver any bounties to that jerk," said Deadpool, "Ok, enough with the cat and mouse. Time to bring out the dog."

* * *

Lady Nega landed in one of central parks forests, looking around carefully to see if Deadpool was around. No doubt the small fire nearby was Matt and his friends. "I'm almost tempted to go to them," said Lady Nega, "Anyone would be better than that creep."

She paused with a smirk. SHIELD's prisons would be laughable to escape from. A couple of weeks till Deadpool got bored and she could escape, maybe get Falcore out too if he was willing to let her polish his loyalty. He should have fought his way back to her ages ago.

"Ok, how should I do this? Do I want to seem desperate to get away from him? No, a little too undignified," said Lady Nega. Just then, she heard turbines overhead.

She also heard Deadpool's voice in the distance, speaking in a terrible French accent, "Oh, ma'cherry? I got snails."

Lady Nega said desperately, "I hear SHIELD prison gets cable." With that, she sent up a flare of fire magic.

A second flare went up in the distance, Lady Nega running towards it and out into a clearing where the dropship was landed, before two blasters were aimed at her, a dozen more SHIELD operatives aiming. "SHIELD is stepping up their game," remarked Lady Nega.

"Lady NegaMorph, you're under arrest," snapped one of the troopers.

Lady NegaMorph's instincts were telling her to fight, to knock these fools down and flee. But that would mean more chasing from Deadpool. "I surrender as long as you shoot Deadpool," she said calmly. Just then, a shot went off behind her, making Lady NegaMorph instinctively duck.

"Hey! That's my bounty!" snapped Deadpool, the troopers turning to aim.

"The way I see it, we caught her while you were fooling around," said the field commander.

"Wait a second," said Lady Nega, "That bounty on my head was put there by SHIELD?"

"You're a lunatic with genetic weapons. And Deadpool, Commander said you're not getting paid. We caught her. Not you," said the field commander.

Deadpool's eye twitched as he heard a merc's three least favorite words. "Not...getting...PAID?!" he snapped before pulling out his guns.

Lady NegaMorph looked at the commander. "Please?" she begged before blasting Deadpool away Team Rocket style before they could stop her. "Totally worth it," she said happily as they tackled her.

* * *

The hunt for Lady NegaMorph was not going well with Spider-Man and the others. The young sorceress was surprisingly hard to track and the splicers got distracted when a rocket suddenly shot out of the park. Ok, they were all distracted by that.

"Is that Gary?" asked Matt, watching through his helmet's zoom.

"Clamped to that rocket," said Falcore with an annoyed sigh.

"Captain," said Matt's wrist comp, "A SHIELD armored transport has landed close by. Miss Roph's signal is there."

"Huh, that's weirdly convenient," said Matt.

* * *

The group didn't take long to reach the clearing, Lady Nega in power dampening cuffs, Matt turning to see the splicers melting into the shadows, though Weirdwolf was still with them.

"What happened to Deadpool?" asked Spider-Man, looking around.

"Just take the win," said Chloe darkly.

"Speaking of which, why aren't they handing her over to you?" asked Spider-Man.

Matt walked forward. "That's our prisoner, thank you very much," he said confidently.

"After all her crimes, I think not," said the field commander, "She has a lot to answer for."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't hear that. Nick fury said me and my team could handle her, not you," said Matt, his jovial tone starting to drain.

"You'll have to take it up with him," said the commander, "But she's coming with us."

"For your sake...Or I'll personally floss with you," snarled Matt.

"If it's any consolation," called Lady Nega mockingly, "You wouldn't have held me any longer than these coppers will."

Matt glared as the transport took off, the splicers finally coming out. "Fat lot of good you were," snapped Taurus.

"What did you think was going to happen when we caught up with her?" asked Chloe, "We'd make Deadpool go away and let her go?"

"Enough, arguing will get us nowhere," snapped Manticora.

"Shall we deal with these so-called heroes?" asked Flintwing, flames licking the sides of her beak.

Falcore glared before saying, "No, we're all exhausted. We wait for Nightclaw to return. Weirdwolf, come." Weirdwolf looked at him before trotting over to Chloe's side.

"What do you think you're doing, you mongrel?" snapped Taurus.

"No like you," said Weirdwolf.

"Not that surprising," said Spider-Man, "Don't they have deodorant for minotaurs?"

Taurus snorted. "Can't I just snap the spider man?" he asked.

Falcore glared, "No...we have a new hideout to find anyway."

"That much is true," said Akhlut, "It better be someplace by water."

Falcore gave Matt one last glare before leaving, Chloe finally asking "What did you say to him?"

Matt said, "The truth..."

"Did he believe you?" asked Chloe.

"We'll have to see if he did or not," said Matt, "But first, I need to talk to a certain one-eyed director."

* * *

Here's a shorter chapter, featuring the aggravating Deadpool. This chapter's more about humor and it's a prelude for the next chapter that's coming. It should be up on Wednesday. Keep an eye out for it and please review.


	14. Welcome to Pleasant Hill

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 14: Welcome to Pleasant Hill**

"I know that Nick Fury has done a few shady things. I know he had the right reasons for them, but that doesn't mean I liked them. Mostly it involved containing super-dangerous criminals to keep them from escaping. Sandman and Hydro-Man spring to mind, though Hydro-Man was definitely justified. But this latest one really rubs me the wrong way. First off, there was a SHIELD bounty on Lady NegaMorph's head that Deadpool was trying to collect. Yes, that Deadpool. And instead of handing her over to Matt when she was captured, she was taken to some unknown prison. Something smells about this and it's not my costume. I just had it washed."

"I'm...Not even gonna bother," sighed Matt.

"Just summing it all up," said Spider-Man.

"For who? We were just there," snapped Matt. Matt turned and hammered on Fury's door, before, when there was no answer, he tore the lock out. "FURY!" he snarled.

However, the office was empty. "I did mention that Fury was away earlier, didn't I?" asked Spider-Man, "Which was actually something I was glad about when Deadpool was here."

"Better..." snapped Matt, activating his wristcomp.

"Hacking local terminal...partial hack successful," said the wristcomp.

"Only partial?" asked Matt, tapping his wristcomp.

"Well, this is Director Fury's office. If there was one place on the planet where hacking was impossible, it'd be here," said Spider-Man.

"Ok, scan. Keyword: NegaMorph," said Matt.

The computer whirred for a second before it said, "Match located. Communication log between Nicolas Fury and Agent Gorman."

An unknown man's voice was heard saying, "Lady NegaMorph is a threat. We can't just let someone like her run loose in the streets. She ought to be in the Vault."

"That's my call to make, not yours, Gorman," said Fury's voice, "We've already covered this."

"My project could work, Fury. It _did_ work on the test subject," snapped presumably Gorman.

"And that test was enough to convince me that the whole concept is wrong," said Fury's voice.

"You're being foolish. Normal prisons don't cut it. They might as well have revolving doors for cell doors," snapped Gorman.

"And your 'bright idea' would make us no better than Doctor Doom or the Leader," said Fury.

"Fury, please, this could work. Just let me have one criminal to test this on..." said Gorman before the line went dead.

"No further relevant information," said the wristcomp

"Any idea what they were referencing?" asked Matt.

"No, but if Fury compares it to Doctor Doom and the Leader, it can't be good," said Spider-Man.

"Right...what Leader?" asked Matt.

"The guy Hulk hates?" said Spider-Man.

Matt paused, "That's a large list..."

"Anyways, I think we need to look into where Lady NegaMorph was sent," said Spider-Man.

Matt paused. "Wait, Fury is always 30 steps ahead. Why isn't he all over us already?" asked Matt.

"I'm just expecting to ring me any moment now," said Spider-Man. There was a long pause before he said, "Any...moment now."

"This...is worrying..." said Matt with concern.

"Yeah, hair-on-neck-standing-up worrying," said Spider-Man.

"We need to find this 'Gorman' guy...and we have a tracker. Full moon tonight, isn't it? We just need to know where he'll-" began Matt.

Just then, they heard footsteps approaching. "I think we should go," said Spider-Man.

They turned in time for an agent to walk in, with an impressive stache on his face...if it had been the 80's. "Spider-Man, Lazard. What are you doing in here?" the man said darkly, his voice identifying him as Gorman.

"I needed to check with Fury on someone," said Matt.

"Then send a request. As you can see, the Director's not here. He's too lax with you kids," said Gorman with a glare.

"I had an arrangement with him that's being ignored," said Matt.

"And you aren't even SHIELD," snapped Gorman at Matt.

"But I am," said Spider-Man, "And I'd like to know about this as much as Lazard does."

"Classified," said Gorman calmly.

Matt walked forward, "Lady NegaMorph...where is she?"

"How should I know?" asked Gorman.

"You seem to be in charge. She was our target," snarled Matt, pausing to wink at Spider Man.

"Listen, you really want me to call Fury about this?" asked Spider-Man, "Because I have him on speed dial."

"Not till Gorman TELLS ME!" snapped Matt, aiming a punch at Gorman, only to find him...squishier than expected. Matt slowly looked to see his fist was lodged inside Gorman's chest. "This...too much moisturizer or stache shampoo?" asked Matt before Spider-Man webbed 'Gorman' up.

"I'm pretty sure this is not Gorman," said Spider-Man, "Get your fist out of him."

"I'm trying..." snapped Matt, getting angrier. His hand felt like it was stuck in cake batter. And pulling it out was like trying to get it out of rubber cement. And the angrier Matt was getting, the hotter his fist was getting. Faux-Gorman looked down to see his chest starting to bubble at that and tried to get free too.

"Matt, please stop that. Please don't make a mess," said Spider-Man, getting behind Fury's desk.

"Get...off...ME!" roared Matt, a blaze of energy shooting out around the room. That wasn't the only thing shooting across the room. Bits of 'Gorman' were splattering everywhere. All of which had a curious appearance to dough.

"Oh...my...Gooooood…" rasped Matt, sitting in the goo in Avalarian form for the first time since he'd gotten to New York.

"You ok, Matt?" asked Spider-Man, peeking out.

"I feel smaller." said Matt, Spider-Man looking over the desk to see an Alsatian-sized pile of dough, just wings sticking out.

"Yeah, wasn't your dragon form...bigger than this?" asked Spider-Man.

"Furies take it out of a dragon...and by dragon age...I'm barely a teen," said Matt, shaking himself clean.

"Really? I would have thought-" started Spider-Man.

"When I fully recharge, I'll be bigger, alright?" snapped Matt, "And I think the bigger question is what the heck did I just blow up?"

"One of Arnim Zola's toys, " said Spider-Man, adding, "If they're here...we can't trust anyone."

* * *

Chloe glared at the clouds. Moonrise had been technically an hour ago but of course... "Bloody weather," she muttered, hearing a knock. "You do not want to disturb me right now," called Chloe.

"Chloe...it EES your significant other...come to check on your wellbeing," said Chris's voice outside.

_'That has got to be the worst attempt at trying to get into my room I've heard,'_ thought Chloe, _'Still, I probably should try to find out who'd try to impersonate Chris.'_

She walked over, opening the door to see Chris, his eyes in different directions. "Hello, significant other," he said.

"Ok, whoever you are, take the mask off," said Chloe, grabbing 'Chris's' hair and pulling. Chris's face stretched at that, Chloe screaming and letting go, sending a blast at him which went through him cartoon style and blew up the vending machine in the cafeteria a across the corridor

"That's not Chris! That's not Chris!" yelped Chloe, backing away.

"Yes I am, oh silly friend," said Chris, Chloe noticing the SHIELD crew watching and realizing that there was probably more than one.

"Whatever you are, keep back!" snapped Chloe, "You do not want to mess with me."

"You are needed by the doctor," said 'Chris', moonlight shining in and bathing Chloe who began to twitch.

Suddenly, the feathers covering her body changed in fur and spread to cover more of her. The raptor claws on her foots shrank as they changed into paws. Her tail became less whiplike while her wings melted into her back. Her ears grew back out as her muzzle painfully reconfigured into lupine form.

The 'fakes' just blinked before advancing on her, melting into yellow...dough things. "Ok, no idea what planet you're from, but you're about to learn how they deal with monsters on Nirn," said Chloe with a growl. She sniffed the air before he tail wagged a little. "I smell...dough..." she said, before lunging at the fake Chris.

* * *

"That's another knocked out guard," said Matt, dragging a knocked-out SHIELD guard by his collar.

"At least this isn't like last time," said Spider-Man, "Last time, Zola replaced nearly everyone on the Triskellion with a synthazoid and we didn't find out until it was almost too late."

Matt walked in deeper. "I found Chris," he called, dragging the currently human Chris out.

"Usually Zola isn't so sloppy," said Spider-Man.

"Depends what he's after. What if he just wanted certain people?" managed Matt through a mouthful before sighing and biting Chris's leg. Chris sat up with a yelp at that. "Ah, you're awake. What's the last thing you remember?" snapped Matt, though Chris just grinned.

"Someone get on the wrong end of Pym Particles?" teased Chris.

Matt twitched before saying, "I'm not short."

"You're such a cute little guy," said Chris, reaching over and tickling Matt's noise, "Coochie, coochie, coochie..."

Matt paused before headbutting Chris into the closet. "Shut the door behind me..." he said calmly, walking in after him, before adding, "And lock it..."

"But-" started Spider-Man.

"Do it," said Matt.

* * *

One center of pain later...

"Ok, there's her rooooooooo-woooow…" said Matt, at the front...and seeing globs of dough everywhere.

"Reminds me of that time Aunt May got the wrong kind of yeast," said Spider-Man.

There was an ominous burp and a pained groan from Chloe's room. Chris, sporting several bites, scorches and scratches, pushed Matt aside and ran in to see Chloe with a bloated stomach in werewolf form manage, "Please...does anyone have any silver?"

"Oh, gross. You ate that stuff?" asked Spider-Man with disgust.

"It smelled...nice..." groaned Chloe, burping.

"Chris, run and get Chloe some Pepto-bismol," said Matt.

Chloe's cheeks bulged at that "RUN!" yelled Chris before she burped up half a black communicator, a red squid insignia on it.

Spider-Man picked it up with his fingertips and said, "Well, this confirms it. Arnim Zola's behind this. The $50,000 question is where is he?"

"I wanna know that answer too. And it's not just about the money," said an irritating voice.

The group turned to see Deadpool. "YOU!" snarled Matt, lunging.

Deadpool flipped over Matt and said, "You are a lot easier to flip over than I remember. Did you lose weight? And height?"

Chris paused before to everyone's, especially Pool's surprise, grabbed him and begged, "Don't...I know what the next joke you are gonna say is...just don't..."

"This is really not the time for it," said Spider-Man, "We've got our own problem right now."

"Don't worry. I can carry Shorty in my utility-" began Deadpool before there was a 'chomp' noise and he looked down to see Matt chomping on his leg. "Oh, that's why you told me that," he said.

"Look, why are you even here? Picking up another bounty?" asked Spider-Man.

"Not this time," said Deadpool, "Didn't pick up the last bounty either. Those no-good goodie two-shoes stiffed me on my big payday. So I went to complain about it. That's when things got messy. The wrong kind of messy." He pulled his katana out of its sheath, which was dripping with synthazoid goo. "It wouldn't be bad but this stuff's so hard to wash off Tina," he complained.

"Please tell me you knew they were synthazoids before you stabbed them," said Spider-Man.

"Of courrrrse..." said Deadpool, muttering to Chris "I totally didn't." causing Chris to stare and take a couple of side steps away from Deadpool. "Anyhow, heard you guys know who owns the gum-gum men," said Deadpool, "Just tell me where he is so I can cut my payday out of his skin."

"Someone from Spider-Man's rogue gallery. Some guy called Gorman _might_ be working for him," said Matt, twitching before growing to human height. "FINALLY!" he snapped.

"Gorman, yes, that's the guy," said Deadpool, "Of course, recent gooey events make me wonder if there is a real Gorman."

Matt looked at the communicator. "Hey, Chloe, think you can trace this?" he asked, picking it up.

Deadpool snatched it and said, "Huh, looks pretty messed up. I doubt anyone would be able to trace it."

Chloe, looking a little better, walked over and sniffed it. "Green pastures...ice cream...democrat...it was in Connecticut," she said calmly, before looking at Deadpool, "You just smell of tacos and insanity."

"Say, that voice sounds familiar. Is your sister a dinosaur?" asked Deadpool.

"I dunno...is your brother Nolan North?" said Chloe icily...literally, an aura of frost forming around her.

"Connecticut doesn't really narrow it down a lot," said Chris.

"It's still a start," said Spider-Man, "And in one of the least likely places we'd look. Except maybe New Hampshire."

"You know, I did read ahead...-" began Deadpool before Chloe's final straw broke and she blasted him through a wall.

"Spider-Man, I will pay you to find a better person to team up with," said Chloe.

"Aw please, I could find that Gorman deadbeat faster than you could," laughed Deadpool, missing the fact that Chloe, Chris and Matt's eyes narrowed.

"Are you trying to goad us into a dumb bet?" asked Spider-Man a little incredulously.

"No, I think he has a death wish," said Chris darkly.

"Don't be silly. I mean, what would a bet be without steaks?" asked Deadpool, holding two big, juicy steaks. "It's a homophone pun, get it?"

Chris and Chloe just nodded weakly. "I don't see anything wrong with a few harmless steaks...stakes," muttered Chloe.

Matt facepalmed before getting a whiff. "Are those mutton?" he asked in a small voice.

"I woulda gotten beef, but they had this big sale on mutton," said Deadpool, "Less fatty too."

Matt nodded before saying in a numb voice, "Steak now or death."

"See ya at Zola's place," said Deadpool before tossing the steaks and running out laughing.

"I cannot believe you fell for that," said Spider-Man smugly before ducking a table, the two werewolves and dragon fighting one another for the steaks, Deadpool having only left two. "Oh come on. Aren't you even considering they might be tainted?" asked Spider-Man.

"SILENCE! STEAK TIME!" snapped Matt, burping a cloud out that literally caused half the desk to melt.

"You ok?" asked Spider-Man with concern.

"Feeling a little heartburn," said Matt, punching his chest. He burped again, a white-hot blast of flame melting a circle in the window. "Ok, think that's the worst of it," said Matt, "Chloe, Chris, you up for hunting?"

"Can't...meat coma…" groaned Chris, burping.

"Tried to warn you," said Spider-Man.

"I know my sister can't be put down that easily, right?" asked Matt.

"It...was...tofu..." groaned Chloe.

Matt's smile froze before he started to look ill, "I'll go ahead...after a brief visit to the little drake's room."

"Maybe I should grab Scarlet Spider if you guys are going to be incapacitated," said Spider-Man.

"He'll...be fine in a bit," said Chloe, a crash heard and a scream, followed by...unpleasant noises.

* * *

Matt had learned something from this experience: he can never go vegan. Tofu does not mix well with dragon stomach acids. Which is just as well because he was going to eat Deadpool as soon as he got his claws on him.

"Ok, just follow the smell of Mexican food and chimichangas," he muttered, his eyes glowing red as he surveyed the ground below. "Must...kill...Deadpool..." he said darkly. Deadpool hadn't made it easy, 3 ferries, two trains, 4 busses, and an airplane...urgh even his dragon form couldn't scare the TSA...

"Dammit, Connecticut isn't even that big a state. If it was Rhode Island, this would only take one day," snarled Matt. Then he paused. He just caught the scent of something familiar. His eye slits narrowed as he sniffed, his head slowly turning to lights below, some sort of town. "Megan..." he hissed, before tipping his wings to land just outside the town.

"Ok, have to keep a lookout for any kind of defenses-" started Matt before he suddenly hit something very hard.

* * *

There are many grand world changing conversations found in the strangest of places...this was not one of them...

* * *

"Give me a go with the camera," said a SHIELD guard at an inconspicuous guard post at the edge of the shield.

"No, it's mine," said the other guard, "You should have gotten your own camera."

"But there's only one view. We're supposed to be doing this together in case Hydra or something comes," said the first, adding, "You always get a go."

The second said, "That's cause I'm a higher rank then you."

"Then how comes you can never hit anything?" snapped the first guard.

"The stungun sights are off..." said the second guard sulkily.

The first said, "Hah, tell that to Gorman. You actually nailed his hair to a wall with a dart. That's why he sent us here."

"If you try to start that conversation one more time-" started the second guard.

There was a loud, glasslike thud outside at that. "Bird," they both said together, the second guard saying, "Your turn," a loud glassy squeaking heard outside.

"Ugh, they're always so...icky," said the first guard.

The squeaking continued, the first guard snapping, "Just do something before our eardrums expl-" before something landed on the hut and them.

After a minute, the weight vanished, someone walking in the direction of the shield aperture, swearing weakly. "Hey...I vote this never happened," said the first guard after a minute, weakly from under the rubble.

* * *

"Any landing you can stagger away from...still hurts," said Matt, in a dazed tone. He shook his head, looking around to see...Everytown USA. "Oh my God, I've found Eureka," muttered Matt walking forward.

"Ok, can't let anyone hear me coming," said Matt before a very loud jackhammering not too far away made his teeth rattle.

"THE HELL WAS THAT?" He roared before covering his mouth. "Ok, scout town, find Deadpool, make balloon animals out of his kidneys," he muttered, the sound heard again before he began to sneak towards it.

"Ok, there has to be something nefarious going on," muttered Matt, looking around a corner. All he saw were four big guys working in an excavated hole in the road. "Well, annoying roadwork is kinda nefarious," said Matt. Then the jackhammer started again, even louder as he was closer. "Would you turn it down?!" yelled Matt, "There are decent people trying to sleep!"

"Hey, we gotta job to do," said one of the construction workers.

Matt nodded, "Thank you!" before turning. He got several steps before his brain replayed the conversation. "Wait a second...where have I heard that voice?" he muttered, turning and his tail accidentally clocking two figures in combat gear out cold.

He looked again at the construction workers. Those very broad shoulders looked familiar. He lifted the hardhat off the black worker. "Hey! Gimme that!" snapped the worker, snatching it back.

"I knew it. The Wrecking Crew. What's the plot?" snapped Matt, throwing the hat behind him, hitting a sniper taking aim, the guard next to him saying quietly "Bet you wished you'd let me have a turn."

"Buddy, we're not wrecking, we're fixing," said one of the workers that Matt recognized as the Wrecker, "This watermain ain't gonna repair itself."

Matt blinked, his train of thought derailing. "Pardon?" he said carefully.

"Just be glad it's not a backed-up sewer pipe," said Piledriver, fittingly the one who was using the jackhammer.

"Ok...I'm gonna go now...by the way, scales and wings aren't a problem?" Matt asked.

"Bit late for Mardi Gras, ain't it?" asked Bulldozer.

Matt facepalmed before saying, "Close enough." He walked off, twiddling his finger round his earhole. Two figures made the mistake of jumping him as he headed down the alley back to the main road, Matt tossing them into a dumpster without half a thought. "Bloody muggers," he muttered.

* * *

"Just who is this guy?" snapped Gorman, looking at the surveillance footage, "And how is he knocking out my men without even noticing?"

"Lazard, one of those alien mercs," said a SHIELD tech at a control station, everyone wincing as one 'mugger' tried another fight and got...kicked in a certain area by Lazard, another tech saying "Are we sure he's a good guy?"

"Probably not. Keep an eye on him. He might be moving in," said Gorman.

"Wait...we gotta detain him?" yelped a guard before coughing and repeating himself in a less panic-stricken voice, him and the others having not uncrossed their legs since the 'kick'.

"We've got two dozen different supervillains here. He couldn't be harder than all of them," said Gorman.

A new guard said, "Can we wear cups first?"

"Yes, you can," said Gorman with a sigh.

"Oh...and there's a report from Outpost Blue. They're claiming Godzilla stepped on their outpost," said a tech.

* * *

"Ok, Megan's gotta be around here somewhere," said Matt to himself. For some reason this town seemed to have alot of burglars and muggers. He wouldn't have kicked the last one but he had called Matt 'shortarse'. "Ok...let's see...if I was Megan, where would I be hiding?" he muttered.

Just then, he heard a school bell ring. He looked to one side to see a high school where class was just beginning. "No...it couldn't be that easy," said Matt.

He turned to see a few children coming out. "Could I really slip in unnoticed?" asked Matt before looking down at himself, "Nah, that'd stretch disbelief too much. Time for a disguise."

He paused as he heard a squeal of happiness at that., turning in shock before he was tackled. "Oh my gosh, Lazard! I am such a huge fan!" said a giddy female voice.

"Erm...ok, _Megan_?" yelped Matt, trying to remove her.

Megan looked a lot different and it wasn't just because she was in human form. She had 10 pounds of goth taken off her, not dark makeup, no dreads, no jewelry, and no dark clothes. She just looked like a normal teenager and she looked...happy. Very happy. In fact, the happy began to unnerve him. "Megan, so nice to find you finally," he said uneasily.

"You know who I am?" asked Megan, "Oh, what am I saying? I wrote the Lazard fan site. Of course you'd know me."

Matt gulped. Somehow this was far more terrifying then any monster. "Ok...please let go, if that's ok," he said carefully.

"Oh, sorry," said Megan, letting go, "So what brings you to Pleasant Hill?"

"That's this place?" said Matt, his wristcomps AI saying into his head "No such town is on local records...caution is advised."

"I mean, it's great that you're here, but nothing happens in this place," said Megan.

"Really?" said Matt, the VI saying "Scanning subject...chemical imbalances detected." Of course, Megan's brain chemicals would just be imbalanced because of the Virk virus. But Matt wasn't ruling anything out yet. Bur right now, he needed a cover story.

"I'm...just here to...check...in...on...local schools..." he said carefully, trying to negotiate a real whopper.

"Check in on them?" asked Megan.

"Yeah, it's part of SHIELD's new PSA services. They want the younger heroes to speak at schools to...uh...talk about peer pressure and other problems you teens have."

The two watched, locked in a stare before Megan smiled "Cool." turning and missing Matt wiping his brow with a silent 'phew'. "So I guess you ought to talk to the principal," said Megan.

Matt considered this. It was probable that the principal was another brainwashed villain. It was more likely he was one of the jailers here. Either way, his shoddy story wouldn't hold three seconds under scrutiny. "Actually, we prefer to observe the students as one of them, find out what specific problems you're dealing with first," said Matt.

"Great idea, but where will you stay?" said Megan.

Matt twitched, "I shouldn't do that. Secret identity and all that."

"Ok, fair enough," said Megan.

"Well...ok, take me to your principal," sighed Matt.

* * *

"Dammit, he's talking to another prisoner," snapped Gorman, watching on camera as Lazard was led towards the school, "And not just any prisoner. I just got that one too."

"Her mental programming held. Zat is all that matters," said a voice from the back of the room.

"Considering the amount of animosity she would normally have for him, that says a lot for the strength of the control," said Gorman.

"Well, ze next test vill be ze principal," said the voice, adding, "Maybe send some men..."

* * *

"Ok, this is the principal's office?" asked Matt, looking at Megan.

"Yup, watch out...and don't mention the eye," she said before walking off.

"The eye?" muttered Matt, knocking.

"Come in," said a disturbingly familiar voice.

Matt blinked, shaking his head. "No...it can't be," he said, opening the door, before his snout fell open. "Noooooooo…" he said weakly. Sitting at the desk, in a suit but still with the eyepatch, was Fury. "Tell me this is just undercover," he said, after he'd walked in and shut and locked the door, leaning against it

and off to a great start.

"Can I help you with something?" asked Fury.

"Fury, nobody can see us. What is this? Some SHIELD base or something?" said Matt, sighing with relief.

"This is a high school, young man," said Fury.

Matt paused, carefully rewinding and replaying those words. "What's your name?" he asked carefully.

"Jason Bliss," said Fury.

Matt blinked. "Ooookaaaay…" he said, deciding to humor Fury, "My names Lazard. I'm...just resting my wings. One of your students told me I should tell you."

"You seem to have come a long way out of your way," said Fury.

"Got lost, first time outside New York," said Matt quickly.

"You seem to be more lost than you think," said Fury.

"Indeed, indeed...everything looks the same above cloud level," said Matt conversationally, a partial truth, mostly as he was getting the feeling Fury wasn't buying it.

"Look, I think you ought to leave here. There are students trying to study," said Fury.

"I was hoping to give the kids a lecture on some of my adventures. Something fun for them, just while I rest my wings," said Matt, going for an excuse for more snooping.

"If you had called in about a week ago, I might have been able to arrange it," said Fury, "But you can't be disrupting class now."

"As I said, it wasn't exactly planned. One of the minuses of not having one of those suits Stark uses or a fancy hammer. Tired wings...and I'd rather make myself useful while I'm here," said Matt.

"Well, I can't have you causing a disruption on campus," said Fury, "Maybe I can get you some time to lecture tomorrow, but not today."

"Didn't expect to today. It is late. Tell me, there a motel here that allows dragons?" asked Matt.

* * *

"Some anomalies...lucky he gave in," said a tech.

Gorman glared. "Fury's following the stranger protocol anyway," he said, as, after Matt left on the screen, Fury began dialing 911, "Make sure OUR cops intercept him."

* * *

Matt walked out, already muttering about how to make up a story for tomorrow before he jumped a foot in the air as Megan, from beside him, said, "How did it go?"

"Fine! I mean, it went fine," said Matt once he sure his heart wasn't going to leap out of his chest.

"So Mr. Bliss didn't kill ya," teased Megan, Matt pausing, before she said, "I'm joking." with a laugh.

Matt glared. "Please not about that," he said, before hearing the sound of sirens approaching.

"911 call detected from Mr. Fury's office," said the VI out loud.

"He called the _cops_? What sort of superspy calls the fuzz?" Matt snapped.

"Superspy? Maybe when catching kids who are skipping class," said Megan.

Two police cruisers skidded into view, bearing down. Megan watched as Lazard sniffed the air before he began growling, before firing a plasma blast from his palm, sending one of the cruisers into a flip through the air, a second one slicing the other in half.

"Lazard, what are you doing?!" yelled Megan.

"Megan...hide," said Lazard darkly.

"You're attacking the police," protested Megan.

"No I'm not," said Lazard. Megan turned and gasped, several dough-like...things getting out before reforming into several of the town deputies. "I said to run," hissed Lazard, blocking their sight of her by spreading his wings.

Megan decided it was best to listen to her favorite superhero and ran. She ran into an alley and peered out to see the...fake deputies fighting, one turning into a fat...dough boy thing that began to smother Lazard.

"What are those things?" muttered Megan, but she really didn't want to get close enough to find out.

She gasped in horror as one of the deputies injected her hero with something, knocking him out, before a truck drove up, the deputies shoving him in the back before they looked human again, looking around, one briefly looking in her direction, making her duck back.

* * *

"Usually when I'm separated from my team, I try to contact them or get them to find me. Usually because I've just been kidnapped by a supervillain. However, Matt just flew off and he didn't leave us much to go on. It's been three days and his sister's getting worried."

"Come on, you outdated calculator," snapped Chloe, Chris holding her back from slashing the computer's screen as it said "431 quadrants remain for scanning...scanning quadrant 107 now."

"Connecticut's not a big state. How could it have not found him by now!?" snapped Chloe.

"It's an old system. This thing was in service when I was a rookie," said Chris, pulling her away.

"We ought to be looking for him on foot then," snarled Chloe.

"That'd take even longer," soothed Chris, looking over at Spider-Man. "Tell me SHIELD has some sort of lead. They're missing Fury now."

"According to Gorman, Fury's on a top-secret mission," said Spider-Man.

"Gorman, as in the same guy you saw splatter into several globs of dough?" asked Chloe incredulously.

"Only Matt and I saw that and it was all gone by the time we got back," said Spider-Man, "I might try to see if Gorman is another synthazoid, but I would get in a lot of trouble if I'm wrong."

"Possible match found...unlisted database located...unable to pinpoint...Possible lead found in database for one Wade Wilson classified as Priority capture. Warning: Unidentified jamming preventing pinpointing source," said the computer at that.

Chloe snarled and lifted up a chair to throw at the computer.

"Analyzing course of action...94.7% success rate for action 3...scanning...Wade Wilson located...transmitting location to wrist computers," said the computer at that, Chloe pausing.

"We are not that desperate, are we?" asked Chris.

* * *

"The computer says he's in there," said Chris, looking at a readout, the three looking at an innocent-looking door.

"There could be literally anything behind that door," said Spider-Man.

Chloe walked up and shrugged before knocking, an eye slide opening. "Password," said the guy whose eyes glared, the sound of drinking and music heard beyond

"Let me in, you idiot," said Chloe.

"Hey, you're one of those heroes. Get lost or bring a warrant." snapped the voice, pausing, "That said, the outfit might get you in."

Chris muttered, "Oh no." Chloe's eye twitching before she blasted the door inside with a lightning bolt, 'accidentally' stepping on the bouncer...and boy when a raptor's foot steps on you, you know it

The bar patrons looked up to see who had knocked in the door this time. Chloe got a few lingering stares for being a winged dinosaur, but most just returned to what they were doing.

"Wade Wilson, I want him. First person to say so won't be beaten to a boneless heap," she snapped, noting some of the other mercs were looking at her robes. "Why did that idiot Sauron make it so only this outfit works? I feel like Xena," she muttered.

"I think he's in the bathroom," said one merc, "But you don't wanna go in there."

"WADE, OUT HERE NOW!" roared Chloe in full 'Dakota' mode.

"Just a minute..." sang Deadpool's voice.

Chloe/Dakota stomped towards the bathroom door before opening it, ready for a yell before coughing violently, slamming it shut. "Dear God," she managed.

"Noseplugs are on the counter," said the bartender.

"It smells flammable," snapped Dakota, sending a blast into the door which was blown into the bar, the stench vanishing, though for some reason the flames were purple. "DEADPOOL!" she snapped.

"_Occupado!_" yelled Deadpool's voice.

Dakota looked ready to yell before she smirked. "Ok...I guess I'll take the money I was going to pay you and leave," she said innocently.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a moment," called Deadpool, "I'll be out in a minute."

Dakota looked at the others before saying, "I know what you're thinking." her eyes glowing the same way she had as Queen Dakota before saying in an echoing voice, "Literally...butt out." The mercs that had shown interest suddenly being interested in their drinks.

Deadpool soon came out of the bathroom, shaking water off his hands. "Hey, Dino-Girl," he said cheerfully.

"Don't call me that," said Chloe flatly. She stomped over before lifting Deadpool off his feet. "Ok, you worked for Gorman. Where's his base?" she growled.

"Babe, if I knew that, don't you think I would have collected my fee?" asked Deadpool.

"You're not stupid. You'd know why he wanted Me...Lady NegaMorph," snapped Chloe.

"Because she's super-powerful and super-hot?" asked Deadpool. The punch sent Deadpool flying back into the ruined bathroom

"I don't have time to bant this around," said Chloe, "You're going to show us where Gorman keeps his prisoner."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, that's a no-go," said Deadpool, "It's a no-man's land. And it's also a no-woman's land and no-dinosaur's land."

Chloe picked him up again. "Or I recreate some scenes from Jurassic Park. You can be the members of staff," she growled threateningly.

"Just a second," said Spider-Man, "Are you saying there's someplace even you can't break into?"

Deadpool glared before muttering, 'Yes'

"Oh, that must grind you hard," said Spider-Man, "You want to get your money but you can't without help."

Deadpool glared further before yelping as Chloe shook him. "You are going to lead us to where he is...understand?" she snarled.

"Look, babe, if I can't get inside, how are you going to get in. You don't really blend in anywhere," said Deadpool.

"That's why you're coming too," said Dakota with an evil grin.

"I don't think you can afford me," said Deadpool.

"Well, my brother's in trouble, so here is my deal. You help us and you'll actually have limbs to count Gorman's money with at the end of this. It's that or a free tour of my digestive system," said Chloe in a sweet voice.

"Well, when you put it that way, I think I'm up for it," said Deadpool.

"Good. Oh, and call me 'babe' one more time and I'll stick your own feet up your butt," said Chloe.

* * *

Considering the Triskelion was already compromised, it was decided the coffee shop bunker would be a better place to plan. In retrospect, it wasn't a great decision.

"Ok, Wilson, some of those weapons are literally world ending. GIVE EM BACK...or at least the ones marked 'Do not let Matt touch'," snapped Chloe.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Deadpool.

"Chris..." said Chloe.

"On it," said Chris before grabbing Deadpool by the legs and shaking him.

A dozen pistols and rifles fell out and one orb with the aforementioned warning, Chloe grabbing it before it hit the ground. "Oh thank God," she said, pocketing it. "You can keep...that," she said, holding a plasma magnum before she said "_If_ you help us get find where Gorman has my brother." pulling it out of reach.

"Hmm...interesting form of payment. Not exactly cash, but new toys are always fun," said Deadpool.

"Are you going to help us then?" said Chloe.

"Sure thing," said Deadpool, "Of course you'll be footing the travel expenses."

"Ok...and I get to rip out your spine to be my personal floss if you hit on me, leer, or even think about any form of romantic approach," said Chloe.

Chris leaned in and muttered to Wilson, "She's smiling. That's not a good sign. Just take the deal."

"And before you ask or conveniently not-ask, that also applies to Megan when we find her," said Chloe.

Deadpool glared before taking the gun, and saying, "Ok, so I have an idea where it is. I...might have hacked Gorman's personal computer files to blackmail him into paying me. Talks alot about some town in Conneticut."

"Where in Connecticut?" asked Chris.

"Some mining town that dried up with the mines," said Deadpool, "Or maybe because the original settlers got scarlet fever."

"That...sounds like crap. It's too obvious," said Chloe.

"Ever heard of 'hiding in plain sight'?" asked Deadpool.

Chloe glared before saying, "Ok, so it's the town. Out of the way just enough. So how do we get in?"

Wade laughed before saying, "You don't. It's got a shield to stop anyone sneaking in...unless they squash one of the control huts."

"Matt would have done that," said Chloe and Chris in a matter-of-fact tone.

"So, how do we get in?" asked Spider-man.

Deadpool chuckled, "Well, there are some outstanding bounties..." Chloe gulped.

"Let's not drag any villains into this," said Spider-Man, "I don't think we'll get them to cooperate."

"Oooooh, not villains, there's an open bounty on mutants," said Deadpool evilly, Chris and Chloe staring before hugging each other in terror.

"You know you two aren't actually mutants, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"I'm half-bat/half-werewolf, she's half-raptor/half-bird," said Chris bluntly.

"Who said I was half-bird?" asked Chloe, sounding insulted.

"You're mutates," said Spider-Man, "As in you were mutated, not born mutant." There was a bit of a pause before he asked, "Are you?"

"It's close enough..." said Deadpool, now wearing a gas mask and opening a small canister. "Does this smell like chloroform to you guys?" he asked.

"Oh no, you are not gonna..." started Chloe before she started feeling dizzy.

* * *

The three came round to find, in order, Chris hanging upside down from the rooms roof with a collar saying 'Mr. Fluffy', her in a birdcage and no sign of Spider-Man. "DEADPOOL, YOU ARE DEAD!"

"Wait a second? Where am I?" asked Spider-Man's voice. After a few seconds, he faded into view.

A voice from a speaker said, "I found one of Lizard Lady's stealth suit things and put it over your suit."

"DEADPOOL, I WILL EAT YOUR SPLEEN!" screamed Chloe.

Deadpool said, "Good, get into character. I told Gorman that you went nutty again like the Savage Land."

"How did you know about that?" asked Spider-Man, "Did you read the SHIELD files?"

"Oh, I read something," said Deadpool.

Chris snapped, "Why are we in cages, Deadpool?"

"Gorman pays me for bringing in dangerous villains and heroes gone bad," said Deadpool, "I'm pretty sure he'll take in monsters too. Who wouldn't want a dinosaur and a werebat?"

"Half dinosaur!" snapped Chloe.

"Werebat?" snapped Chris.

"Whatever, just be sure to act the part," said Deadpool, the line going dead.

Spider-Man tapped his spider insignia and said, "Huh, why isn't it coming back on?"

"Different stealth tech," said Chloe, "It's your new belt."

Spider-Man looked down to see an ebony metallic belt, a small red dot blinking. "He musta programmed it for us. If anyone else gets in range you-" began Chris before Spider-man vanished, the back 'wall' opening to reveal it had been a trailer, a half dozen SHIELD agents aiming in.

Chloe immediately slipped into 'Queen Dakota' mode. "Finally, which of you underevolved apes is going to release me?" she said loftily. Chris decided he should go along with this, so how would a rabid wolf-bat react? He started giving off high-pitched screeching sounds. "Get that thing to stop!" snapped Chloe, not out of character but not completely ingenuine.

One of the guards walked up, with a tranq gun Chris 'accidentally knocking him flying. "What do you expect us to do with them?" asked one guard, "We're running a prison, not a zoo."

"I am not some animal," snapped Dakota, putting on the show of the 'angry villainess'.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're a pre-evolved parrot," said the guard.

"Look, am I getting paid for this? Gorman still owes me for the Lady NegaMorph job," snapped Deadpool.

"For doing your job for you?" asked one guard acerbically.

"When you say it like that…" began Deadpool's voice, a blam cutting him off.

"Not sure we've got the facilities to hold these beasts in," said another guard, poking at Dakota's cage, "They'd stand out like a sore thumb in town."

"I guess we'll get to test how well that power nullifer works," said another guard.

"Power nullifier?" asked Dakota.

"Something to make sure the prisoners don't cause trouble," said the lead guard, "It might even force you into human form, but I wouldn't hold my breath."

"You leave her alone," snapped Chris.

"So the flying fox can talk," said the lead guard, "Don't strain your wings. If you're lucky, you'll be human again too."

"Course you won't remember," laughed a third.

This was not going the way Chloe had been expected, but she couldn't let her show that. "I warn you, I'm scheduled to fight my sworn enemy Lazard tomorrow and he'll come looking for me if I don't show up," she said in her Dakota tone.

"Lazard?" sneered one of the guards.

* * *

Megan wasn't as carefree going back to school. She had told her parents what had happened, but they just laughed it off. And she wasn't really sure who she could trust now. "Ok...ok...maybe the principal will believe me?" she muttered, following the others in. "Maybe I really did imagine the whole thing," said Megan to herself, "Nothing weird ever happens in Pleasant Hill."

She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she bumped into someone without looking. "Hey, watch where you're going, geek," said an annoyed female voice.

Megan looking up to see one of the cheerleaders. "Oh smeg," she muttered without thinking, before pausing. "Hey, you aren't Melinda..." she said, spotting the uniform of the cheerleader.

"She got bumped," said the cheerleader, "Just wasn't following the program."

Megan looked around. "Ooookay...and who the hell are you?" she said. Megan and the cheerleaders had long come to the amicable agreement that they despised each other with the force of a thousand supernovae.

"The name's Chloe. You better remember it because it's the name of the new head cheerleader," said the cheerleader.

Megan rolled her eyes at that before yelping as Chloe's eyes looked...off. For a brief moment, they looked like lizard eyes, but she must have imagined it.

"So you'd better stay away from us, loser," Chloe smirked.

Megan rolled her eyes before saying innocently, "Hey...are those split ends?"

Chloe glared at Megan and said, "I'm giving you a chance to not step on any toes. Otherwise, we'd have to hunt you down."

"Hey, Chloe, that's a bit far," said one of the other cheerleaders.

"Everyone needs to know their place," said Chloe.

Megan slowly backed up, the bell ringing, and almost bumping into someone else. "Oh, sorry," said Megan.

"Oh, don't worry about it," said a voice. Megan turned to see a boy who had to be in his senior year, brown hair, blue eyes, not bad-looking.

"Are you new here?" asked Megan.

"Kinda in a transitional period," said the boy, "Name's Peter. What's yours?"

"Erm...Megan. You new here like the new cheerleader alpha?" said Megan, pointing at Chloe and the others.

"Yeah, I just-" said Peter before doing a double-take at Chloe.

"You know her?" said Megan cautiously.

"I think so..." said Peter, sounding not sure if he wanted to believe it.

"You ok?" said Megan, flicking Peter.

"Yeah...anyone else new that you've noticed?" asked Peter.

"Just got in today..." said Megan, leaving out she'd spent most of the previous night fearful that dough people would attack. "Well, first class is science, put this on," said Megan, passing Peter a hard hat from her bag, "We don't have good chemical safety."

"It's a good thing chemistry's one of my better subjects," said Peter.

"Oh, you're fireproof?" said Megan conversationally.

* * *

"Oh, Mr. Bleu isn't out the hospital yet?" Megan said, Peter noticing the demonstration table had _alot_ of scorches.

"Unfortunately not, but I'll be filling in for him in the meantime," said a voice. The class turned, Megan's mouth falling open as Lazard, in a lab coat came in. "Class, I'm Mr. Drazal and I'll be teaching you science for the foreseeable future," said Lazard.

Megan stared. There was no way this shouldn't be causing a panic...but nobody was even blinking except the new kid. "Ok...I see Mr. Bleu was showing you the properties of nitro glycerin...which might explain why I'm filling in," Lazard said carefully.

"Maybe we should be at the back of the class," whispered Peter.

"Trust me, these ones are the sturdiest," muttered back Megan before noticing his expression, "Wait...you seeing the winged lizard too?"

"No one else does?" asked Peter, looking around.

Megan looked around before nudging some football jock. "Hey, Chuckles, you see anything off with the new teacher?" she asked.

"That his labcoat is spotless," said the jock.

"Anything else? You know, wings, tail, teeth that could eat us all," said Megan carefully, before seeing the jocks face, "Good grief, how many newbies are here today?"

Peter glanced at the jock and did another double take. "Seriously?" he muttered, "Lazard's the only one who isn't human now?"

"Shh..." said one of the other students.

Megan hissed, "You can see this stuff?"

"I'm wondering why only you can," hissed Peter.

"I'm an insomniac," hissed Megan, "The TV acts weird at night."

"The TV...doesn't have this ugly, scowling face on it, does it?" asked Peter.

"With a really strong German accent?" said Megan, a cough from the front getting their attention.

"Interesting conversation?" said Lazard, a few chuckles heard. Megan immediately sat up straight, blushing furiously.

"Now I have your attention. I'm gonna demonstrate something cool. Little something..." said Lazard, lifting up a glowing device onto the table with effort. "We've all heard of Stark's Arc Reactor tech, but there's other clean tech as well. Plasma for a start, used in experimental Takomak reactors," he said proudly, Megan noticing Peter looked worried. "I made this little thing to show it off. Perfectly sa-...afe?" he said, looking up to see every student was under their desks.

"Oh, ha, ha, very funny," said Lazard, "I know your lessons with Mr. Bleu have been...overly exciting, but I assure you that my lessons are completely safe."

With that, he flicked the switch...

* * *

"So...that happened and I now mourn my eyebrows," said Megan in a faint voice, the teachers walking out of the school. For obvious reasons, i.e. the stand-in teacher blowing himself up, lessons had been cancelled.

"Yeah, didn't need a spider-sense to see that coming," muttered Peter.

"What was that?" asked Megan.

"I said I didn't need a sixth sense to see that coming," said Peter, "So...what else weird goes on around here?"

"You know, I didn't notice it until a few days ago, but I have seen a few odd things," said Megan.

"Like what?" said Peter.

"Well, I've seen something on the rooftops at night. It looked like a statue, but it kept moving when I wasn't looking. And then there was the deputies made of dough," Megan said, before sighing, "You must think I'm nuts."

"Not at all," said Peter, "You ever heard of someone named Arnim Zola?"

"Only in history, some Hydra big wig," said Megan, the two walking along.

"If only he stayed history," muttered Peter.

"Sorry?" asked Megan.

Peter said, "Nothing." before his phone rang. "Can you excuse me?" asked Peter before walking away.

Traveller80002/10/2019

The voice on the other end of the call was definitely annoyed, "How much longer? It's bad enough you webbed me to the ceiling but did you _have_ to leave burritos in smelling range?"

"Well, you didn't give me a good impression of your tact or subtlety," said Peter.

"It would have worked. Blow up a few things, unalive some of Gorman's goons and he'd have come running," snapped Deadpool, for it was he, on the other end.

"Did you learn anything about infiltration when you were training at SHIELD or was that first thing you committed to forgetting?" asked Peter.

"You did help me break into Taskmaster's camp, right? Season 2, episode 16?" said Deadpool.

"There's a difference between breaking in and sneaking in," said Peter.

"I still say my way's better. Find anyone?" snapped Deadpool before Megan, walking up behind Peter asked "Hey...who are you talking to?"

"Oh, you found little miss payday," said Deadpool happily.

"Er, I was talking with..." started Peter.

* * *

"I really want to help her out, but there's only so much I can tell her as Peter Parker. If it I were Spider-Man, I could tell her what's going on. But I'm not big about revealing my secret identity to anyone, especially a supervillain who may remember this later."

"I could help her. I sometimes actually do heroic stuff in my comic," said Deadpool happily, leaning into the inner thought, only for Peter's shoulder Spide-Men to push him away. "Gee, offer to help." was heard as he was pushed away.

"Ok, when in doubt, turn to the Wheel of Excuses." There was a brief shot of a pile of ashes. "Oh yeah, that finally burned out, didn't it? I still have my Wheel of Explanations, right?"

A mini Spider-Man in a hard hat whispered, "The Wheel of Excuses took it with it."

* * *

Megan blinked. "Erm...hello?" she said carefully.

Peter shook his head and said, "Sorry, I need to go meet someone. I'll send someone to help you if things look bad."

"Oh, not a chance. Something's actually happening in this backwater pit and I wanna find out," snapped Megan.

"This may be something too dangerous for you to handle," said Peter.

"More dangerous than a dough boy invasion replacing the Police and overpowering and brainwashing the best hero in the world?" snapped Megan.

"They have Captain America here?" asked Peter in surprise.

Megan snapped, "I meant Lazard."

"Him?" asked Peter, sounding even more surprised.

"Yeah, dragons are cool," said Megan sulkily.

* * *

"Ok, brainwashing I kinda expected, but definitely not this."

* * *

"So...who were you calling? The voice sounded familiar," said Megan darkly.

"Listen, um... Would you believe I'm an undercover agent from SHIELD?" asked Peter.

"Nope...not a chance," said Megan smugly.

"I really am," said Peter, "This town is some sort of experiment being run by Arnim Zola."

"Where is he? In the TV?" joked Megan.

"Not just your TV," said Peter before looking around, "Come to think of it, maybe we shouldn't be talking out in the open."

"You think the dough monsters are watching?" gulped Megan.

"Arnim is probably in every computer system in this town," said Peter, looking around.

"Oh please..." laughed Megan before her smile faded, "Really?"

"Well, maybe not in every bathroom," said Peter.

"Not that..." whimpered Megan, pointing up.

Peter looked up to see a gargoyle statue perched on the roof. He was pretty sure it hadn't been there before but his spider-sense hadn't gone off. He was pretty sure he knew why as he recognized the gargoyle. "We know you're alive," he called.

The eyes in the 'statue' glowed at that. "Then you're going to get away from her then. I heard who was on the phone," it said in a French accent.

"I'm not here to collect a bounty," said Peter, "This is a rescue mission."

"Forgive me if I do not believe you," said the figure.

"Peter, what is that thing?" asked Megan, fearfully. The creature's eyes turned to look at her at that, a hurt expression seen.

"Megan, I think you know him," said Peter.

Megan looked, the creature saying, "Miss Roph, I am here to help."

Megan gave the gargoyle a perplexed look and said, "Your voice...it sounds familiar for some reason."

"Please, remember, I am loathe to call in those idiots," said Gary.

"It's just...just on the tip of my tongue," said Megan, holding a hand to her head.

The gargoyle landed in front of her, a pleading look on his face. "Please..." he pleaded.

"Uh, I'll just give you two a moment," said Peter.

Megan looked at the gargoyle, something was indeed familiar. "Ok, if you know me, what's my favorite food?" she said accusingly.

"Main course or dessert?" asked the gargoyle, "I know you like a shredded pork sandwich with garlic mixed in and a hot fudge sundae. People say it's not a good combination for your breath, but I've never cared about that."

Megan paused. "Erm...anyone could guess that. What's my favorite city?" she said in an uncertain voice, her head aching.

"Easy. New York. You're comfortable there because you know the alleys like the back of your hand," said the gargoyle.

"Ok, so you know me. So who am I? Some secret supervillain or something?" said Megan, laughing at her joke.

The gargoyle looked uncomfortable for a moment before saying, "You're my girlfriend."

"I'm sorry, what?" said Megan.

The gargoyle shrank a little, losing his more monstrous features and stony hide until he was a boy no more than a year older than her, his long black hair in a ponytail. "Please tell me this rings a bell," said the boy.

Megan twitched as, with a final sting, something partially gave way. "Gary?" she said in shock before falling backwards in a faint.

Gary quickly caught her before she hit the ground. "Oh, Megan, if only you didn't have to be brought here for this to happen," said Gary.

He looked up as Spider-Man landed. "Oh...I should have known you would be here..." he said darkly.

"When I wanted to take her to a correctional facility, I wasn't planning on one run by Arnim Zola," said Spider-Man.

"Who?" asked Gary.

"You know, Hydra scientist, TV face on his stomach, uses living dough men for minions," said Spider-Man.

"I've heard of him. Strange person by all accounts," said Gary in an unsure voice.

"I don't think you've heard enough about him," said Spider-Man.

"He is working with the warden of this place?" asked Gary

"Assuming that the warden isn't under his control," said Spider-Man.

"Urgh, that would explain the police. I thought they were mutants or some SHIELD bioweapon," said Gary.

"You saw the Synthazoids?" asked Spider-Man.

"That's their name? Yes, I saw and smelt them. There's not many around, seems to be only law enforcement. Everyone else is real, locals and villains," said Gary sternly.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about everyone out to get me," said Spider-Man, "I had enough of that for one lifetime."

"Could still be dangerous though," said Gary, looking down at Megan sadly, "I hope it's permanent for her sake. She wasn't Lady NegaMorph at first. The Virk...we were looking for a cure...she has it..."

"Lazard told me a bit about that, but he didn't tell a lot about what the Virk is," said Spider-Man.

"In a way, he is. Genetic weaponry. The Virk were the next...how does Chip say? The next update. It went wrong," sighed Gary.

"Went wrong how?" asked Spider-Man.

"The Virk program was supposed to remove the flaws of the original Khan program, but it had the side effect of creating a separate personality, essentially giving one's dark side a mind of its own. Unless you have a special amulet or training, you have no chance of keeping the dark side from taking over.

"We crashed here years ago. More then long enough. How could I stop her? Even at full strength, she would swat me aside...and I could never do that." said Gary sadly.

Spider-Man looked away, not really sure what to say to that. Then he noticed something shiny on the ground. "What's this?" he asked, leaning down to look.

Gary peered at it to see it was a colored lens, a contact lens made to look like a human eye, before he gently raised Megan's eyelid to show a reptilian eye. "Like I said..." he said.

"So, you've stayed by Megan's side, hoping she would break free of Lady Nega's control," said Spider-Man.

Gary nodded and said, "The worst part is that I know she's in there and I see the occasional glimpse of her. It's usually when Lady Nega is most satisfied." He looked down sadly. "And here she is: the core of the grand villain for the world to see," he said, "She will not need punishing when this is all over. Mr. Lynch...Lazard knows from experience that he remembered everything his other side would do. She'll remember mutating those poor teenagers into her attack force. She will remember it all."

"I'm...I'm really sorry about all that," said Spider-Man, "I mean, I've seen plenty of my close friends be turned into villains. Harry, Norman, Connors, and try to reach through to them from in the monsters they've become is never easy."

"Indeed. Hopefully Matt is the advanced party," said Gary, innocently adding "The _Bladestorm_ has over 50 medibays..."

"Omigosh, can this story get any sobbier?" asked an annoyed voice.

Gary and Spider-Man turned to see Deadpool at the end of the alley. "YOU!" snarled Gary, transforming back to gargoyle form.

"Oh, so you can look human too. How 'Beauty and the Beast'. I'm talking about the CW show, by the way, not the one with the dancing napkins," said Deadpool.

Gary snarled before lunging, only for Spider-Man to web them both. "Not now, the last thing we need is attention," he hissed, Megan waking up, seeing Deadpool and shrieking, covering her face with her hands, which caused her hands to spark with black lightning. "Whoa, whoa, everyone calm down," said Spider-Man, though it sounded more like he was the one needed calming.

"It's Deadpool! He's a bad guy!" yelped Megan, pointing and a blast of dark energy blasting Deadpool into some dumpsters. "Ok...ow..." he said from the far end.

"Not that I didn't approve that, but this may not be the best time for dark energy," said Gary.

"I...I...I…" said Megan weakly, looking at her finger the same way someone might look at a mouse that had suddenly began singing Pavarotti.

"Megan, there are some things I need to explain," said Gary, "Which would be easier if I wasn't webbed to the wall."

"Gary...you're a gargoyle again..." said Megan.

Gary paused before tearing himself free. "That was...a test," he muttered embarrassed.

"Can we move along already?" asked Deadpool.

"Yeah, so how do I know you two aren't in on this? Where's Peter?" snapped Megan.

"That kid who went to get me?" asked Spider-Man, "Did he mention he was an undercover SHIELD agent?"

"Well...you'd know. Not much of a spy..." muttered Megan.

"Enough to know that this place is being used as a Hydra experiment of some kind," said Spider-Man.

"Point to you, but we need to rescue Lazard," said Megan desperately.

"Right, I'm not sure if I heard this right, but he's apparently a teacher now?" asked Spider-Man.

"Yeah, he blew up the science lab," said Megan in awe.

"Well, that's not entirely unbelievable," said Spider-Man.

"Look, this is nice and all, but can hear dough man sirens," said Deadpool.

"He might have a point," said Gary, "We should probably find somewhere else to plan."

"I know a place," said Megan nervously.

"Lead the way," said Spider-Man.

* * *

The hideout was an empty house in the middle of town, a few demolition notices around. "Oh, I like it. It has that 'escape from New York' look..." said Deadpool, poking a piece of wall which crumbled.

"I guess some things are hard-wired," said Gary.

"I like it. Nobody comes here," said Megan happily.

"That's Megan, alright," said Gary.

"Well, let's try to focus on the problem," said Spider-Man, "As in the whole town is under Zola's control. The only thing I'm wondering is why put up a charade at all? Why not just put everyone in those tubes and steal their powers?"

"This town's near a main road. People drive through," said Megan.

"Also, this place isn't 100% Hydra," said Deadpool, "Would Hydra agents be wearing and using SHIELD-issue gear if there was no one to fool?"

"Yeah...maybe it's the sheriff," said Megan.

"Who could just be another Synthazoid," said Spider-Man.

"No, he doesn't smell like one," said Gary.

"He could just be a normal SHIELD agent," said Spider-Man.

"I don't think so," said Deadpool, scrolling through his phone, "Check out who's up for reelection. BTW, don't think he's gonna win."

The others leaned in to see Gorman's face on what was apparently the web page for the town. "That's him," said Megan.

"Well, well," said Spider-Man, "I guess now we'll find out whether Zola is using him or he's an actual accomplice."

"Ooh, I hope he's an accomplice," said Deadpool, "That means I get to un-alive him."

"No. No un-aliving," yelped Spider-Man, Gary and Megan looking confused,

"Ugh, you just gotta suck all the fun out everything," said Deadpool, "C'mon, the guy's a jerk and obvious traitor. He deserves to not be among the living."

"Wait, shouldn't he be just...locked up?" asked Megan nervously.

"See? She gets it," said Spider-Man.

"Oh, it's only because her bad side's locked up," said Deadpool, "Otherwise she'd totally agree with me."

"I don't have a bad side," yelped Megan.

Gary stomped forward and pulling Deadpool with him. "A word in private, _monsieur_," he said darkly before lifting Deadpool up by his neck once they were alone. "If you tell Megan anything of her current past, I will make you...less of a lady's man," he snarled, showing his claws.

"You know it'll just grow back, right?" asked Deadpool before whispering, "Not something I boast to everyone."

"Not quickly with the amount I will remove," snarled Gary.

"You know she'll remember eventually, right?" asked Deadpool, "When we stop Gorman and Tele-Tummy, she'll get her memories back."

"Not if you do not encourage that side," snarled Gary.

"Ok, but I'm tellin' ya, she's not gonna be sweet and innocent forever," said Deadpool.

"How would you know? You are just some foolish mercenary," snapped Gary, letting Deadpool go and stalking off.

Deadpool sighed and said, "Nearly feel sorry for the guy. Emphasis on the 'nearly' part."

"Look, first we need to work out how whoever's in charge keeps everyone blind. Lazard's supposed to be immune to mind control. It's in his stat card I made," said Megan.

Gary raised an eyebrow. "_Pardon'e_?" he asked in confusion.

"Yeah, it's all on the fansite," said Megan.

"Fan site?" said Gary.

Megan nodding, "It's run by the official fan club...which...I run."

Spider-Man and Gary shared an unnerved look at that. "Well, it would seem that Arnim Zola has a twisted sense of humor," said Spider-Man, "Which would explain why Chloe is a cheerleader."

"Wait...he did what?" said Gary, nervously.

"And Chris is a jock," said Spider-Man, "Not as big a surprise."

"Phew," sighed Gary to himself with relief.

"Making Lazard the science teacher was though," said Spider-Man.

"No wonder he made that tech thing. He's a superhero," said Megan happily.

Gary said a little forcibly, "I assume the fool knows where we can sabotage this mind control." glaring at Deadpool.

"It's more of a hunch right now," said Deadpool.

"Better than nothing, now speak," snapped Gary.

"Uh, why are we doing all the work? Don't you have your minions?" asked Deadpool.

"Lad...Me...I left them guarding the hideout. Surely Falcore will keep them in order…" said Gary stoically before shuddering as a chill went down his spine. "Oh no..." he muttered.

* * *

"PARTYYYY!" called Manticora happily, the warehouse having been turned into a rave, a sign saying STRICT fancy dress. Falcore, to his credit had tried to stop it, which was why the others had duct taped him up and hidden him in a closet

* * *

"Wait, did I just tempt fate with the local Lynches? That doesn't count, right? Right?" asked Gary in growing desperation.

The others watched before Deadpool said, "Never tempt fate..."

"Shut up!" snapped Gary before taking in a deep breath, "Let's focus on the present. Where would their control center be?"

"Everyone needs a booster shot at the medical center," said Megan.

"A good place to start as any," said Gary.

* * *

"Vat do you mean you cannot find zem?" snapped Zola

"They're not appearing on the grid," said one of the Synthazoid guards.

"Urgh...just in time for zat dumb hero to get hiz booster. Double ze guard at the medical center...and tell Gorman to have his lackies on the lookout," snapped Zola.

Zola had a feeling those dragons would be trouble, but the opportunity to experiment with their unique DNA was irresistible.

* * *

"_That's_ the medical center?" yelped Gary.

Spider-Man looking over. "You never went near it?" he asked, the foursome looking at the modern-looking hospital build against the hills.

"It was built on the old mine," said Megan.

"Yeah, there are some creepy implications with that," said Deadpool, "Not to mention not very structurally sound."

"It's like what you'd expect to see in a zombie film. The creeeeepy lab under the innocent hospital," said Megan with an evil grin.

Gary gulped and said, "Well, I suppose we won't have to work our way to the top then."

Deadpool shook his head. "It's your classic evil lab: normal hospital on top, evil monsters just waiting to break out and attack the innocent heroes underneath," he said.

"Hold that thought," said Spider-Man, "Someone's coming." The group hung back as two SHIELD vans pulled up, armed agents getting out, a half-asleep-looking Lazard led out in a trance.

"That can't be the real Lazard," snapped Gary, "Lazard can't be subdued like that. He's immune to mind control."

"And they heard us..." said Deadpool cheerfully, as several guards turned at Gary's angry yell.

"Oops," said Gary meekly. Deadpool of course, drew his swords and jumped out of cover and into the midst with a happy yell. "I guess we help him?" said Gary, one guard running at him and Gary backhanding him away on reflex without noticing.

"Looks like it," said Spider-Man before shooting a few web blasts.

Megan ducked back however, watching as the three heroes, especially Gary, took the grunts to town. Gary particularly scattering three of Gorman's goons like ten pins. Megan almost wished she could help fight, but she barely knew what powers she had, let alone how to use them.

A yell drew her attention, seeing Gary clutching his arm, a black burn on his skin, several more SHIELD agents firing. A surge of grief welled up in her heart before shooting to her hands. "No!" she yelled, dark energy shooting from her hands.

The shooters' guns were blasted from their hands, giving Spider-Man a chance to web them up at that. "Nice move," said Spider-Man offhandedly, not seeing how Megan was staring at her hands like they were smoking guns.

"I...I...I..." stuttered Megan, her eye twitching before on of Gorman's goons grabbed her...a mistake as it would turn out, as his eyes crossed, he glowed, and turned into a surprised pigeon.

"Ya know, I haven't really seen ya do much magic yet," said Deadpool, "I was starting to think that talk about you being a sorceress was just for dramatic flair. Like that Wizard guy. He only uses technology. Doesn't anyone care about mislabeling? Speaking of which, you don't look like a size 36." The last part was addressed to the goon whose underwear he had just grabbed and pulled over his head.

"Erm...I hope it wears off..." gulped Megan.

"I think it will," said Gary, "Your basic transfiguration spells seem to be temporary. You need more involvement to make anything stick."

The last two of Gorman's men were backed up, one holding an unwieldy sniper rifle. "Back up. We're not afraid," said one.

The other said, "Speak for yourself. I'm terrified."

"Guys, just put the rifle down. It's no use at this range," said Spider-Man.

"It's useless at any range with this guy," said one of the goons, the other glaring.

"Just surrender before we have to take away your dignity," said Spider-Man.

"Aw, but that's half the fun. Well, one-third of the fun, really," said Deadpool.

"Wait...we have dignity after a dragon sat on our guard post?" said the rifleless one, the other snapping "Tucker!"

"Which reminds me, where did they take Lazard?" asked Gary, looking around.

"If we say, can we go?" sighed the one with the rifle.

"Yeah, I doubt our presence is a surprise anymore," said Spider-Man.

The two looked at each other before pointing at the lead truck, "He's in the back." before they ran for it.

"Well, at least they didn't take him somewhere else while we were fighting," said Gary.

The back of the lead van was hanging open, Lazard stood in the back, a blank stare on his face. "Ok, so how do we snap him out of it?" asked Spider-Man.

Deadpool studied him for a few seconds before slapping Lazard in the face. Lazard blinked before slapping Deadpool back, sending him flying. Deadpool lifted one finger up from where he landed and called, "It worked!"

Lazard blinked a little but that was all, Gary walking up to him before saying, "I have one guarantee...stand back..." he said, shifting his skin to stone before whispering something.

For a second, there was no reaction, before the van literally exploded. "CHRIIIIISSSSS!" roared Matt.

Gary staggered out, covered in ash. "I hope he remembers to hold back when we encounter Chris," he said.

"Where am I?" snapped Matt, stamping out the rubble in full dragon form.

"What do you remember last?" asked Spider-Man.

"Being talked to by a television," snapped Matt.

"And do you remember where that was?" asked Spider-Man.

"Erm...no. I was stuck in one of the dough people," said Matt embarrassed.

"Well, right now you're in front of Pleasant Hill Hospital and I think it may be the same place where Zola had you," said Spider-Man.

"Really?" snapped Matt, adding, "Nobody goes in my brain."

Megan asked, "Don't we need it intact?"

Spider-Man quickly webbed up Matt's legs and Gary jumped on top of him. "Matt, this is not a 'seek and destroy' mission," said Gary.

Deadpool walked over and sat on Gary, "Yeah, there's some valuable tech that could be sold off later."

"Never, I'm nuking it!" snapped Matt, before Spider-Man said, "What about Chloe?"

"What about her? Wait, where is she?" asked Matt.

"Chris and Chloe came in with us. They...were bait. Deadpool's idea," said Spider-Man.

Deadpool, as oblivious to danger as always, said, "Yup and it got us in."

"Is that him on top of me?" asked Matt.

"Actually, I'm between you two," said Gary.

"Gary, please move," said Matt. Gary paused before moving just as Matt lunged at Deadpool

* * *

Sometime later, after Matt had gotten his needed stress relief, he was filled in on what had happened. "So, they made me the science teacher?" asked Matt incredulously.

"Yeah...you blew up the science lab," said Megan happily.

"I see where the intended irony was, but that was still a pretty poor choice," said Matt. He paused. "And my sister's a cheerleader," he said.

"Yep," said Spider-Man. "Is she at least a nice cheerleader?" asked Matt.

Megan laughed at that. "A nice cheerleader?" she managed.

Matt sighed and said, "There weren't any pictures taken, were there?"

"Not that I know of," said Spider-Man.

"Good..." said Matt, though not sounding 100% sincere.

"Were you hoping on getting pictures for blackmail material?" asked Spider-Man.

"No cause I value my ribs," said Matt.

"I'm sure you'll get your chance," said Deadpool, "Because I bet my left foot that she'll be sent to hunt us."

"They're brainwashed, not sleeper agents," said Matt, before saying, "Especially if we're careful. We snatch Chloe and Chris one by one. As far as they know, I'm still brain fried."

"How do we know they're not already taken down there?" asked Gary, gesturing towards the hospital.

"We don't...but if I was Mr. Telly Face, I'd have an army down there waiting for would-be rescuers," said Matt grimly.

"We may need to prepare a bit," said Spider-Man, "Those Synthazoids don't go as easy as you think."

"Yeah...so I guess I'll be Mr. Science for one more time," said Matt gloomily.

"Just try not to blow up anything this time," said Spider-Man.

* * *

The next day, the group met up early, Matt looking at the ragtag group. According to Spider-Man there was no guarantee that someone back at SHIELD wouldn't rat them out, meaning no backup...then there was Megan.

He knew Megan was starting to regain her memories, but her other will probably be resuming control as soon they were all back. If anything, she needed to be locked up or at least contained before her Virk side manifested again. She was a literal ticking bomb However, considering their available resources and lack of options, they didn't have much choice but to include her.

He spotted Gary sitting in the rafters, waving him down. "Gary, you know Megan's gonna turn again, right?" he muttered.

"I'm hoping she isn't," said Gary.

"Gary, you know better," said Matt.

"But she's so close to what she should be," said Gary.

"And it's all an illusion. As soon as Lady Nega's awake, we'll have to lock her up till the _Bladestorm_ arrives," said Matt sternly.

"Maybe Megan can resist her," said Gary. Matt raised an eyebrow. "She's got a strong will," said Gary.

"Which means Lady Nega has an equally strong will," said Matt, "And in the event of a tie, the dark side wins."

"I refuse to believe that. You always won," snapped Gary.

"I'm a different case," said Matt, "I have A-001 protection. Megan's strong, but she isn't strong enough."

"I refuse to believe that," snapped Gary.

Matt sighed. Gary's heart was in the right place, but he just refused to face the hard facts. "Ok...we'll discuss this later. So I'm some sort of...science teacher...urrrgh..." said Matt, shuddering.

"Having already blown up the science room at least once, I've heard," said Gary.

"Good," said Matt with a manic smile before looking around and saying, "So...where's Chloe?"

"Well...I was told, but I can't believe it," said Gary.

"Gary, Gary..." said Matt, putting a hand on Gary's shoulder and starting, with glowing red eyes, to push him down. "I've had a bad few weeks. My dear sister got turned into a DeviantArt picture of a raptor. You and Megan turned the local version of me into an insane avian who can literally throw wing blades. Tell...me...where..." he said, the last words said in a voice worthy of Darth Vader.

"She's, she's the captain," said Gary fearfully.

"Of..." prompted Matt.

"The cheerleading squad," squeaked Gary.

Matt stared, twitching before he started to laugh. "Really? Tell me there's blackmail," he managed.

"Er, if you mean someone has taken pictures..." started Gary.

"Oh, if they did..." said Matt, the same smile there as he began to squeeze Gary's shoulder. "There will be nowhere they can hide," he finished darkly. Matt leaned in and whispered, "If anyone's going to blackmail Chloe over this, it's gonna be me and me alone."

"Yes, sir." squeaked Gary, adding, "Please stop grinding my shoulder to dust."

Matt released his grip and asked, "And what has become of her boyfriend?"

"Football team," said Gary, Matt twitched and laughed harder. Gary continued, "As far as I can tell, this an actual town. Most of the people here are just brainwashed residents...and I mean seriously. You walked around in hybrid form and nobody blinked."

"But the law enforcement are Sythezoids, or at least most of them are," said Matt.

"Yeah, everyone was fine till they had to go for mandatory eye exams. That's what Megan said," said Gary.

"Fine, fine. First order of business is finding where Chloe and Chris are. I wonder what Zola could have done with them," said Matt.

"I told you for the fifth time already," said Gary in an annoyed tone.

"SILENCE!" twitched Matt, adding, "I'll just have to go undercover to find out." Gary facepalmed.

* * *

"Zola managed to brainwash the town?" said Spider-Man after, with much prodding, Matt had accepted reality.

"And presumably under the hospital, evil army, blah, blah, blah. Does the dragon guy finally get it already?" asked Deadpool.

"I think so..." said Gary.

Megan said, "We can't just rush in. It's just us 4 and I'm still re-learning how to blast people."

Matt nodded, "Last thing we need is Chloe and Chris fighting for their team when this all goes down."

"So we find them, extract them, restore their memories, and take the fight to Zola," said Spider-Man.

"Everyone has to get these follow-up eye exams every week. I mean...that's where you grabbed Matt. You musta needed a refresher. If we grab the two before that, we just wait it out," said Megan.

"Zola could still switch to attack mode before they fully wear off," said Spider-Man.

"So we web them up," said Matt sternly.

"Ok, we just need to isolate them so we don't alert the whole school," said Megan.

"Well jocks and cheerleaders suck at science. This should be easy," said Matt, rubbing his hands together...

* * *

"She's supposed to be a cheerleader, and he's a damn jock. How are their papers straight A's?" Matt muttered, checking some homework during break. "Either Zola had allowed some of the intelligence to shine through their brainwashing or they're muscling some poor nerds to do it for them," muttered Matt.

"Chloe and Chris, to my office," he said into the PA system. He turned it off and pulling out a mobile. "Peter? Game on. My classroom, 3 minutes...and tell Deadpool to use rubber bullets only." A groan was heard in the background.

Matt steeled himself. Surely Zola wouldn't have pigeonholed Chris and Chloe into the stereotypical jerk jock and mean cheerleader roles, right? He was sure they were respectable people despite the brainwashing.

The door opened at that. "Ok, like, what's this all about? I know I'm making straight A's," Chloe's voice snapped.

"Then again, Zola might have all the originality of a rerun," Matt muttered, turning his seat and seeing his sister and two other cheerleaders. "This is between me and Chloe. You two can wait outside," he said calmly.

"Where she goes, we go," said one of them.

"Commendable. Go away," said Matt.

"You can say to them what you say to me," said Chloe with a smirk.

"Or you can go to Dir-...the Principal's office with this evidence of cheating I've found," said Matt, stalling as he showed the papers. "Who'd you pay to do the work for you? I might recommend only a suspension," he said, texting under the table, the words 'GET HERE NOW!'

Just then, Chris walked through the door, with two linebackers following him. "Hey, I just told your girlfriend the same thing. This is just about you, leave the goon squad outside," said Matt.

"We go where the boss goes," said one of them.

Matt snapped "ANYONE WHO ISN'T CHLOE OR CHRIS, GET OUT!" putting some dragon roar behind it.

"And I say they stay," said Chloe, her eyes turning reptilian. That was reason enough to worry for Matt, but then he saw her friends also sporting slit pupils. Glancing at Chris and his cohorts, he saw their eyes were turning golden.

"Oh, you guys," he muttered, texting 'Plan B' with a skull and crossbones' out before he said, "Is this how you convinced other teachers to turn a blind eye?" in a dull tone as he concentrated on flowing some energy into his hands. The teens snarled, showing sharper teeth as their faces started distorting. "I know they say high school is a 'man eat man' world, but this is ridiculous," said Matt.

He backed behind his desk as the three werewolf jocks growled, the similar raptor girls snarling. "Hey, eating your teacher is an expulsion address," he yelped. The teen-turned-monsters crouched as they got ready to pounce. "I am not going down like a teacher on Buffy," said Matt, plasma igniting in his hands.

The three looked surprised before Matt grinned "Let me put my hands together." before clapping, a blastwave of plasma knocking them back into the corridor. "Boring plan anyway," he muttered, following them. He was knocked back into the classroom by two werebat jocks. "Hey!" snapped Matt, leaping up before throwing two plasma disks at the two. The cheerleader dinosaurs were the next to try their luck and had an easier time of getting through the door. Matt struggled with keeping the girl's teeth away from his head. "This can't be how I'm supposed to go. Eaten alive by cheerleaders. I'd never hear the end of it," he griped.

Just then, the window was shot open and Deadpool jumped through. "Ah, reptilian cheerleaders," said Deadpool, "Who would have thought I'd be fighting those again?"

"I'm not even gonna ask. GET THEM OFF ME!" snapped Matt.

"Looks like it's bola-bola time," said Deadpool before throwing multiple bolas. The bolas wrapped around the girls' mouths, wrists, and legs, making them fall over.

"Ok, that was cool...with one small critique: YOU TIED ME UP TOO!" snapped Matt, a bola pinning his arms to his sides.

"Hey, I got the worst of them," said Deadpool. Just then, the wolf-bat linebackers barged into the room. "Werebat jocks...ok, that's a new one for me. Awesome!" said Deadpool gleefully.

"But he's got were-" began Matt, before one of the werewolf jocks tried to tackle Deadpool, and, perhaps, making a dreadful mistake: it bit his sword blades in half.

"You...you broke my swords..." said Deadpool in a tearful voice, "And they were collectables..."

The werewolf smirked, spitting the tips out. "Those pieces of junk?" he growled.

Matt covered his face, muttering, "Oh no."

"Buddy, you just made my un-alive list," said Deadpool in a dark tone.

"No un-aliving...dammit, now I'm saying it. That said werewolves can survive most things that aren't beheading or silver," said Matt.

"Ah shoot. I knew I should have brought the silverware," said Deadpool.

"Just get-" began Matt before the other jock tackled him, trying to snap at him before a blast of webbing sealed his muzzle.

"Now is that any way to act before the big game?" asked Spider-Man, swinging in, "You guys are never getting to State with that attitude."

Matt kicked up as Spider-Man pulled, the wolf being lifted off and swung into the others with a yelp, Matt jumping up before pausing, looking around. The rest of the school were just watching emotionlessly. "I swear of any of these guys point at us and shriek..." he said nervously.

"Where's Chris and Chloe?" asked Spider-Man, "Not that we shouldn't keep these guys from causing harm, but we need to get those two back to their proper minds."

"Traitooor!" yelled a female voice, Chloe, in her Dakota form, charging through the crowd. The sight of an anthro female raptor with bird wings wearing a cheerleader outfit was so bizarre, even by Spider-Man's experiences, that he had no choice but to whip out his phone and snap a few pictures, if only to convince himself he actually saw it later.

Matt screamed, grabbing Deadpool. "GET HER, DEADPOOL!" he yelled, practically throwing Deadpool at her.

"Come to Papa," said Deadpool gleefully, holding his arms out. Something about this triggered a reaction in Dakato. She tried to slow down her momentum, her claws leaving long scratches in the floor. Happily she fell over just as Deadpool was about to reach her, the two missing one another.

It also had the bonus of giving Spider-Man a chance to web her down. Of course, Spider-Man wasn't sure how long she'd stay down. "I hope that brainwashing wears off sooner than later," he said.

Matt held up a finger and leaned in, muttering in her ear, "Matt and Kala sitting in a tree..." Chloe's eye starting to twitch.

"Why would that make her-" started Spider-Man.

Matt help up a finger and continued the rhyme. "K-I-S-S-I-N-urk," he said cut off as Chloe grabbed is throat.

Chloe snarled, "You did WHAT IN THE TREE?"

"I thought it was you who disagreed with your sibling's betrothal, not her," said Spider-Man.

"It's two-way," gasped Matt, Chloe shaking her head and looking down.

"The hell am I wearing?" she snapped.

"Well, you remember we were going after Zola, right?" asked Spider-Man.

Chloe paused before facepalming. "Oh crap...where's Chris?" she asked, a shriek getting her attention to see Chris charging her in wolf bat form. "Oh," she said, before tazering him till he collapsed, twitching with spiraling eyes.

"Ok, let's go before the rest of your cheer squad get loose," said Matt.

"Aw...do not go yet. Zis haz been most entertaining," said a voice from the speakers, Zola's.

"You have a pretty sick sense of entertainment, Zola," said Spider-Man.

"Vell, Gorman vants to see if the inmates obey orders. Think...a prison which guards itself." laughed Zola.

"I doubt that's what you're interested in," said Spider-Man.

"Vell, if I get ze chance to perfect my conditioning techniques, all ze better," laughed Zola, Matt twirling his finger round his ear. "I saw zat!" snapped Zola's voice.

"Where from?" asked Matt, looking around.

"He's in the cameras," said Spider-Man, webbing a watching camera.

"Really?" said Zola, before saying, "Destroy zem."

Chloe starting to twitch and grip her head as the others began to walk forward. "HIGH SCHOOL ZOMBIES!" screamed Matt.

"Don't worry. I'm prepared for this scenario," said Deadpool before pulling out a chainsaw.

"No chainsaws!" snapped Matt, before gagging as Chloe grabbed his throat. "I thought you were back to normal," gasped Matt.

Chloe simply proceeded to throw Matt at Deadpool. "You two got a sibling feud or something?" asked Deadpool.

"We have our ups and downs," admitted Matt. Chris began to get up at that, twitching with a spark of electricity every now and then. "Oh look, werewolf," said Matt aimlessly, yelping as two teens tried to grab him, Deadpool yelping as one of the kitchen staff tried to grab and pull him down.

Spider-Man luckily swung down, knocking Chris into some lockers, revealing a small red light at the base of his neck. "These things would be less noticeable without little lights," said Spider-Man before grabbing it. "This may hurt," he said before pulling it out.

Chris's eyes bulged and he screamed, before turning...and the feral tint vanished. "The hell? Oh please tell me we did...are those high school zo...IS THAT FURY?" Chris snapped, pointing.

"Where?" asked Spider-Man, turning. Chris pointed at Fury, in his principal outfit as part of the horde. "Ok, taking picture for proof... Should we rescue him now or get Zola first?" asked Spider-Man.

"Zola!" snapped Matt, struggling with Chloe and her cliché pack.

"Matt, the implant is in her neck," called Spider-Man.

Matt headbutted one of Chloe's minions before tackling Chloe, reaching round to the implant and pulling. Chloe screeched angrily, staggering back and into Deadpool. "Hah...easy peasy," he said, before three of the normal jocks jumped him, one holding up an implant and thrusting it down, a yelp heard.

Deadpool said, "Well...that's just not good at all." as Matt, wearing the same expression as the others stood up and aimed a plasma-charged palm.

"You've gotta be kidding me," said Spider-Man.

Chloe shook her head and turned to Deadpool. "What just hap-" she asked before a blast narrowly missed her. "RETREAT!" she yelped.

"But what about-" started Spider-Man.

"No time!" snapped Chris.

* * *

"You lost Lazard?" snapped Megan angrily, the shadows in the warehouse writhing.

"We were outnumbered, heavily outnumbered," said Spider-Man.

"So?" snapped Megan, before Gary said something in French to her, causing her to calm down.

"Look, all we have to do is take that tag off and he's back to normal," said Spider-Man, "But there are dozens of brainwashed people and Synthazoids to put it back on. We need to unplug Zola himself."

"How? He's literally in the computer systems," snapped Chloe.

"Yes, but he has to have one control station to keep everything running," said Spider-Man.

"The hospital." said Chris, saying, "They talked about taking us there after we got caught. Did I really turn two jocks into wolves?"

"I'm not so certain," said Spider-Man, "They probably extracted your DNA and put it into them."

Chloe sniffed Chris at that, "Nope, I can taste jock on his breath."

"Great..." said Chris dourly, "Now I have to be responsible for them."

"At least we know where he is...as long as nobody showed Matt where this hideout is, right?" Chloe said.

"I think they were gonna find us anyway," said Deadpool.

"Why's that?" asked Chloe, "Wait, did you paint 'Deadpool was here' outside?"

"Hey, I have a brand," said Deadppool, Chloe twitching.

* * *

Lazard, with some of Gorman's men looked at the warehouse, the entire front painted to show a faceshot of Deadpool, with the word bubble "Vote Deadpool for best cartoon character'. "You gotta be kidding me," he said.

* * *

"What? It's not like Megan lives here," said Deadpool defensively.

"YOU DID WHAT?" snapped Chris, before the front wall was blown open.

"SHIELD, drop your weapons!" called Lazard, a hail of laserfire shooting through the hole.

"I don't have time for this," said Chloe as she stared building up electricity for a chain lightning attack.

"There is a sewer entrance," said Gary, headed back as the laser fire intensified.

"Of course there is," said Spider-Man.

"Just give me a minute, I need to free my idiot brother," said Chloe, "Actually, you might want to get out of range for this."

A second later, a huge plasma blast hit her and knocked her across the warehouse.

"Ok, he took less time to charge than I thought," said Chloe, "But a blast of lightning should be enough to fry his tag."

Lazard walked in at that, the team with him. "Dakota...stand down," he said, a blast of lightning fired back which hit a grey plasma shield and earthed.

"Such pure power," said Zola's voice. A chestplate on Matt's chest lit up with the face of Zola, "Have you ever vundered, my dear, vhy he comes out second to you despite his strength, his acquired resistance to electricity? It is his simple feelings of family zat holds him back. But under Zola's control, he feels nozing."

Chloe's eyes narrowed, the raptor side finding the idea of family being so...corrupted disgusting. "You better not have moved into Matt's body."

"Nein, zis is simply a speaking platform," said Zola, "Though ze idea of moving to a stronger body is beguiling. Perhaps ze body of Captain America vould be suitable for my great-"

Chloe glared, firing a bolt that blew out the screen, Lazard staggering back before charging her. This time, Chloe didn't bother with a fancy lightshow. She simply charged up her hands and slapped them onto her brother's neck.

Matt smirked, grabbing her wrist, before swinging her around and throwing her into some boxes. "Don't make it too easy, Dakota," he sneered. A blast of plasma incinerated the boxes, but there was no Chloe behind anything. "Aw nuts..." muttered Lazard.

* * *

"Ok...so it turns out my brother pulled his punches all these years," said Chloe, panting as the group headed down what Deadpool insisted on calling the poop chute to everyone's objection.

"Really? It seemed like Silvia always had the upper hand when you fought," said Chris.

"Yeah...I was alot stronger then," said Chloe, in an annoyed tone.

"Come to think of it, if Zola is based in the mines beneath the hospital, wouldn't it be easier for us to reach him from the sewers?" asked Megan thoughtfully.

"They probably use it for ventilation if he's using Gorman's men..." said Chloe thoughtfully before yelping as Deadpool said "He the guy who I'm gonna un-alive unless he pays me." Megan's eye twitching.

"You're pushing our tolerance," said Gary in a dark tone.

"Save it for the dough people." snapped Chloe, her own temper low as Spider-Man nodded.

"Yeah, we're not gonna beat Zola if we fight each other," said Spider-Man.

* * *

Fortunately, it wasn't hard to get from the sewers to the mine tunnels. And before long, they reached Arnim Zola's lair. "This is his place, alright," said Spider-Man, "The rows of assimilation tubes are a dead giveaway."

"Hey, there's your werewolf jocks," pointed Chloe to where two familiar faces were in tubes, Chris sighing with relief.

"Oh, I get it," said Spider-Man, "Arnim Zola is creating Synthezoids that have the extracted powers of heroes and villains, but look like ordinary people. The perfect infiltration units, no one would see it coming."

"Quite a collection. I think that's Mesmero in one of those tubes. He owes me $50," said Deadpool cheerfully.

"But he doesn't have all the villains and heroes down here. They're up topside, thinking they're ordinary people. Unless..." Chris paused and sniffed Megan, "Are you a Synthezoid?"

Megan turned to glare at Chris at that, her eyes turning black, Chris staring before he said dully, "Nobody could duplicate her temper."

"So what's the inconsistency?" asked Gary.

Spider-Man thought it over. "Maybe it has something to do with magic," said Spider-Man, "Perhaps Zola can't perfectly duplicate magic-based abilities so he's using Sythezoids to test it first while he keeps the real people out of the tubes."

"They can't all be here. Don't see alot of the townspeople. Probably why those implants are needed," said Chloe thoughtfully, adding, "And why we're not in one either."

"So he just doesn't have enough resources? Lame. Supervillains always have inexplicable resources even if they keep failing again and again," said Deadpool.

"So...we wreck everything?" asked Chris, shifting to his wolf-bat form.

"In order: we get everyone out of the assimilation tubes, find Zola and Gorman, pull the plugs, then we wreck everything," said Spider-Man.

"Do them in whatever order's most convenient? Cool, great," said Deadpool rapidly. With that, Deadpool jumped out before anyone could stop them with a 'WAHOOO' the few synthezoids turning in surprise before they met a ballistic Deadpool the other way.

"Urgh...how is he not dead?" asked Chloe, jumping down and over to the first tube, one of the cheerleaders she'd 'converted'.

"Super-healing factor!" called Deadpool, just as something metal was thrown through his chest, "Owie!"

"You keep helping," said Chris, cheerfully with a little bit of pettiness.

"Quick question: when someone is pulled from the tube, does that mean all the Synthezoids made from them go splat?" asked Megan.

"I dunno, maybe," said Spider-Man.

"Because this would be a good time to test that," said Megan.

"Test it!" snapped Chloe, one of the Synhthezoids trying to smother her.

Chris ran over to one tube and smashed it open, spilling goo and unconscious civilian out. One of the Synthezoids twitched at that, before exploding. "Ok, new strategy," said Chris, "Break open those tubes. And little advice: make sure your mouth is closed when you do." Chloe fired a blast of lightning that arced down a corridor of tubes, their systems shorting.

"And we'll be seeing the Big Tube himself in about three...two..." counted Spider-Man.

The far door opened at that, a large and headless purple and red stylized body walking through, Zola's face on its screen, before it began firing from shoulder mounted cannons. "You vill pay dearly for zis, Spider-Man!" snapped Arnim Zola.

"Then how much will I pay for this?" asked Spider-Man before shooting webs over his video screen.

"Or this?" snapped Chloe, tail whipping him back a few steps, before Deadpool sliced one of the guns off.

"Or this? Seriously, how much do I have to pay cause I still need Gorman to pay up..."

"Speaking of whom, where is he?" asked Chris with a growl.

Deadpool was sent over their heads and out of sight, before he called cheerfully, "Found him."

"Deadpool, we need him alive to answer for what he's done," called Chris.

There was a simultaneous groan and someone saying, "Oh thank God."

"You zink I vill let you destroy my vurk so easily?" sneered Zola.

"Honestly, I would have preferred if you were still at the bottom of the Atlantic," said Spider-Man.

"Did you really zink I vould remain zere forever?" asked Zola as he sent a magnetic blast at Spider-Man.

"Another 70 years would have been nice," said Spider-Man.

"And you had to mess with us. If you'd left Megan alone, we'd have probably not been bothered." snapped Chloe. leaping on Zola's back and trying to drain his suit's power.

"You realize vithout me, Lady NegaMorph vill be free again," said Zola, his voice getting more slurred as his power was starting to fade, "In fact, vhy vait? Let's let her out now..."

Gary looked shocked before a tube at the back hissed, the Megan next to him blinking before exploding.

"No! No! She was...what she should have been..." said Gary, falling to his knees.

"Gary!" snapped Chloe as five red eyes lit in the dark, Lady Nega's voice snapping "Gary, what are you doing?"

"Megan, please tell me that it's you," said Gary desperately, "Please don't be her."

"Gary, you moron, what are doing with these do-gooders?" snapped Lady Nega.

Gary hung his head in despair. "Why couldn't she have been the real one?" he asked sorrowfully.

Lady Nega turned to look at Zola at that. "You...you little RV head. Gary, destroy him," she snapped, her eyes glowing.

Gary stood and glared at Zola. "That I can do without a problem," he said angrily. He charged at Zola turning into his more monstrous form as he went.

Spider-Man readied his webshooters before Chris said, with a smirk, "No...I don't think Gary's gonna be a problem. Chloe, get clear." Chloe turned her head and leapt back as Gary tackled Zola and began tearing into his electronics. "Would that actually kill him?" asked Chris.

"Knowing Zola, he has a backup system somewhere," said Spider-Man.

"Let him continue then," said Chloe offhandedly.

As extremely intelligent as Zola was, even he could be overwhelmed by pure savage strength, especially savage strength with a personal reason to hate him.

Gary definitely had. Zola had literally, even if accidentally, dangled his greatest hope in front of his nose and then dragged it away. He was at the moment though in no state of mind to ponder this as he got a decent enough grip on Zola to pick him up and throw him at a control panel.

The control panel exploded with a lot more force than a computer terminal should have had. It also caused all the assimilation tubes that hadn't been opened to open. The remaining Synthazoids soon melted into puddles of yeasty goo.

"No! You idiot!" snapped Zola, blasting Gary back, a message heard. "Zola, something's happened to the control implants..." over the radio, cut off by manic laughter Chloe identified as her brothers.

"Remind me, how many villains does Zola have here?" asked Spider-Man.

"Too many," said Chloe, the ground shaking.

"Yeah, let's hope that Fury is a fast waker," said Chris.

Everyone's comms beeped at that. It was Fury apparently and BOOOOY did he look pissed. Almost exactly, to Chloe's thinking, how a super spy would react to suddenly walking up in tweed.

Spider-Man activated his comm, quickly said, "Please watch your language, there are minors present," and held it out at arm's length.

"Spider-Man, what the..." snapped Fury, before seeing some of the civilian kids. "Heck are you doing here?" he finished, a little calmer.

"Does the name 'Pleasant Hills' ring a bell?" asked Spider-Man.

"Yeah...town fell off the grid a few months ago. Suspected Gorman after I found the name in his files," said Fury, glaring, "Didn't expect Zola."

"Neither did anyone, until Gorman's dough boy twin tried to splatter me," said Spider-Man.

Chloe butted in, "And brainwashed me and Chris."

"As a matter of fact, there are a lot of villains who have just been let loose," said Spider-Man, "Including the Wreckers, Lady NegaMorph..."

"Hey, Fury! Gorman owes me big money? Can I beat it out of him?" called Deadpool.

"Deadpool…" said Fury darkly.

Deadpool said happily, "I don't hear a nooooo."

"Spider-Man, please tell me this is all just an insane dream," said Fury.

"Afraid not," said Spider-Man.

"In that case, I need you to call SHIELD and send in enough agents to clean up this mess before every worm in this can gets loose," said Fury. He glanced down at himself and muttered, "What on Earth did he make dress as?"

"Principal," said Chris dully.

"Not as surprising at it ought to be," said Fury dryly.

"How's my brother?" snapped Chloe, a scream in the background heard.

Fury looked at it, "He's got things in hand up here. Now call that back up in."

"Gary, we're leaving," called Lady NegaMorph.

Gary, back to his normal gargoyle form, turned to look at her, before saying, "No...I refuse."

"Did that sound like an opening to a debate?" asked Lady NegaMorph annoyed.

"No, I refuse to help you sully Megan's name anymore," snapped Gary

Lady Nega glared, muttering, "We'll see about that." before her eyes glowed...then widened when Gary didn't react. "Impossible...you should obey at once."

"Lady NegaMorph, I've put up with a lot of things just because I wanted to see Megan return. But clearly simple proximity isn't enough to make you turn around and you won't listen to a thing I say. So I'll be staying with the Lynches until we figure out a way to bring Megan back," said Gary.

"TRAITOR!" roared Lady Nega, readying a fireball, only for several bolts of lightning to land near her feet.

"I think Gary's old enough to make his own decisions," Chloe said darkly.

"You're all going to pay dearly for this," snarled Lady NegaMorph.

Suddenly, Deadpool was right by her side. "So, since you broke up with the roof-topper, does that mean your available?" he asked suggestively.

Lady NegaMorph blasted him back. "Not in a million years," she snapped, opening a shadow portal.

"Oh no you-" started Chloe only for Lady NegaMorph to step through and shut the portal behind her.

Gary just hung his head low, a few tears soaking into the floor.

* * *

It surprisingly didn't take that long for SHIELD to arrive, though by then some villains had already escaped. Lazard was found bashing Mesmero against the wall. It turned out the mutant had been the reason Matt had been mind-whammied the first time.

Gorman had been found hanging from his underwear from a flagpole...as close as Deadpool had said the 'producers', whoever they were, would let him get to un-aliving.

Of course, Deadpool himself didn't stick around. Apparently, he hacked Gorman's systems, drained his bank account, and skedaddled after leaving a memento.

"Ok...that's why we don't trust Deadpool," said Matt, looking at said Memento, which was a monkey wearing a Deadpool mask. "How did he even..." Matt tried before words failed him. Then Memento shoved a banana up one of his nostrils.

Matt turned to Gary. "Hey...Chloe told me what happened..." he said kindly.

"I really thought there was a chance," said Gary, "That Megan you knew, she was so much like the true Megan."

"From what I know Zola makes some nasty life-like models. You had no way of knowing," said Matt.

"That should have been her," said Gary bitterly, "Why did she have to be the one who was fake?"

"Because if that were her, that would have meant she had been brainwashed by Zola," said Matt. Gary turned to look as Matt said, "She'd have been a kid with dragon and shadow powers, a ticking timebomb with no experience to show her limits. And she'd living on false memories. She wouldn't remember you as you really are. Is that something you could have lived with?"

Gary sighed, "No...No I would not. I must still hope she will one day come to her senses."

"I think we need to find a way to make her senses come to her," said Matt, "Preferably before her uncle gets here."

Gary paused before saying, "Oh no."

* * *

There's another chapter, which got a bit more detailed than I expected it to. I hadn't intended for the cruel twist at the end either, but I think it definitely makes the story work more. In case you're wondering, Pleasant Hill does exist in the Marvel verse, it's been the focus of a few comics. There were will be another chapter coming up on Friday so look for it and please review.

Also, I fixed a problem with Chapter 7, so you can read that now.


	15. Date with Danger

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 15: Date with Danger**

"Sometimes when you've had a bad turn, it's good to get out and going swinging to clear your head. Things have been a little tense at the Triskellion. We lost one prisoner, but gained two guess. Namely Lady NegaMorph's boyfriend and her pet who haven't been happy with the way she's been acting. I would like to help them, but talking down villains doesn't have a perfect success rate. And I don't even know anything about girlfriends."

Spider-Man was knocked out of his narration, for once, not by one of the mercs yelling in his ear but by almost having a mid-swing collision with Spider-Woman

"Whoa!" yelped Spider-Man, letting go of his line and dropping. Before he could shoot out a new webline, Spider-Woman extended a long tentacle and caught him.

"Easy there. You were a mile away," she said, landing, letting him go.

"Sorry, you'd think I'd be used to more people web-swinging through New York by now," said Spider-Man.

"Yeah...spider powers are getting more common," said Spider-Woman in amusement.

"Yeah, if I had known that would happen, I would have put a trademark on it," said Spider-Man, "So what brings you here? Out on patrol?"

"I was kinda hoping to run into you," said Spider-Woman, the symbiote mask sliding from her head to reveal Mary Jane Watson's face.

"Oh? What's up?" asked Spider-Man, the two wincing for a second, given they'd landed near one of Jameson's jumbotrons. Luckily they were able to tune his usual rants out.

"Well, you what time of year it is," said Mary Jane. Peter pulled off his mask and said, "Sure, end of the school year's coming, which means graduations and summer vacation."

"Well, that's not all that's happening," said Mary Jane.

Peter blinked a little, mentally running down the list. "I didn't miss your birthday, did I?" asked Peter.

"No," said Mary Jane.

"Uh...did I miss Aunt May's birthday?" asked Peter.

"No," said Mary Jane, sounding more annoyed.

"Did I miss the anniversary of you joining SHIELD academy?" tried Peter.

"It was only a few weeks ago," said Mary Jane flatly.

"Ok...erm...can I have a clue?" asked Spider-Man.

"Do we really have to _dance_ around this, Peter?" asked Mary Jane.

Peter paused, as his brain pulled up the relevant memory. "Oh...oh, that dance," he said.

"Right. I mean, I know you don't go to Midtown High anymore, but I'm still a student there. So I was wondering..." said Mary Jane, playing with her hair a little.

Peter blinked before saying, "Sure...sure I'd love to." Mary Jane was about to say something before Peter quickly said, "Well, that depends if I can, we can. I mean, chances are someone like the Juggernaut or Shriek will be causing trouble that night. You know, gotta protect the city."

"Hey, most of the villains are in prison. We'll be fine. Name one villain who would crash a school dance?" said Mary Jane cheerfully.

* * *

The Splicers were walking on eggshells around Lady NegaMorph. She had not been in a very good mood when she had came home without Nightclaw and it hasn't improved since.

"She needs to get over him," said Manticora calmly, the splicers sat around a table eating take-out, well when they weren't wincing at her comments.

"I'd like to see you tell her that, behind a splatter glass," said Taurus.

"I'm not that stupid but we're running out of cash and she won't even let us run a heist," said Manticora angrily, before everyone jumped as a 'shrik' was heard and the table fell in half.

Falcore folded his wing. "Enough, we wait for order. Arguing will do nothing," he said calmly.

"So glad you came back," said Manticore dryly.

"We will wait for orders...am I clear?" said Falcore darkly.

"The next order we get is probably to get her more ice cream," said Akhlut dryly.

"And we should count ourselves lucky...lucky she chooses to drown her sorrows in sweets rather then take it out on us," said Falcore.

"Well it's not really doing us any good in the long term," said Flintwing.

"Fine, I will speak to her," said Falcore calmly, pausing briefly, "You all remain _here_!"

* * *

Falcore paused at Lady NegaMorph's door, sighing before knocking. "Mistress, may I come in?" asked Falcore.

"Go away," snapped Lady Nega's voice.

Falcore said, "My lady, your...staff are concerned. You have not exited your quarters except to demand Ben & Jerry's."

"Unless you've brought more, go away!" snapped Lady Nega.

"I fear they may choose their own...escapades," said Falcore, Lady Nega not replying immediately. "I mean they're growing restless and may start acting without orders," said Falcore.

The door clicked at that, slowly swinging open, Falcore gulping before walking in. "My Lady. You cannot dwell on the past," he said as kindly as he could, "What you need to do is start living in the present and do things for yourself." Falcore did his best not to wince when Lady Nega stomped to the door, wearing a rumpled dressing gown and somehow having nasty bedhead despite her hair being composed of tentacles. "Starting with a shower," said Falcore.

"What was that?" snarled Lady Nega, Falcore managing not to flinch.

"What I mean is...focus on good memories...like your first school dance," he suggested.

"I never had a school dance!" snapped Lady Nega, her eyes blazing red. Oddly enough, only one eye was actually shedding tears.

Falcore noted that, though he didn't let himself react, saying, "Then make your own good memories. Eating ice cream all day will make you ill and I would prefer to not guess which mouth it will come from."

"Then maybe I'll use your empty skull to puke in!" snapped Lady Nega.

"The point remains valid. You cannot take over the city if you are moping," said Falcore.

Lady NegaMorph paused and looked at her reflection in the door. She was a mess. She needed something to bring her out of her funk. "Fetch me some magazines," she told Falcore.

"What kind of magazines?" asked Falcore.

"I dunno. Teen magazines," said Lady NegaMorph. She paused, took another look at Falcore and said, "On second thought, have Manticora fetch them."

"Ooookay...anything else, my lady?" asked Falcore, a little unsure.

"Not from you. You wouldn't know a woman's needs if she slapped you with a list of them," said Lady Nega before shutting the door on his beak.

Falcore glared. "One day…" he muttered, sweeping his wing out as he walked off, slicing an old chair in half...

* * *

Gary sighed, looking at the far wall. While the gang had spoken on his behalf, he couldn't expect too much mercy. He'd worked for Me...Lady NegaMorph for several years as her lead henchman. It had been so much better when they were just cruising the galaxy. Until that...awful day...

* * *

2 years ago...

The ship shook from another blow, Megan and Gary catching some samples that dropped. "Danger...hull breach on deck 17...possible boarders," said the computer.

"Megan, we need to go. We don't even know who's attacking us," snapped one of the technicians.

"We're almost at the wormhole," said Megan, "We need to get these samples back to the Bladestorm."

"Molecular test...89% complete...no immune response," said the only functioning medical computer at that.

"See? It's working," snapped Megan before gunfire was heard outside, followed by screams and several cracks and tearing noises.

"Won't do anyone any good if no one's alive to deliver them," said the technician.

"94% complete...no immune response...mutations in recession," said the computer before a bang caused the three to turn, the blast door buckling like it was tin foil.

"I'm really hoping they're someone we can bribe to let us go," said Megan, dark energy powering up in her hands.

Through the crack, a black, slimy-looking tentacle slithered through, another joining it, what looked like ink dropping onto the floor before, with apparently no effort, the appendages tore the rest of the door open, a hovering mechanical suit hovering in.

"Computer, what is that?" asked Gary.

"Unknown lifeform," said the computer.

The technician took aim, only for one of the tentacles to spear out, into the troopers head, a sucking noise heard before the tech slumped down lifeless, his head making a hollow noise, before a whispering voice, seemingly from everywhere said, "You are the healer of thissss primitive ship?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that's my most important role," said Megan.

"You ssseek to heal the dark queen'ssss plague," hissed the creature, the visible organic materials pulsating.

"Dark queen? What dark queen?" asked Megan.

"The queen from the purple heeeero...ssssuch a dissapointment to her fatherrrrr," hissed the creature, a cruel batch of laughter heard.

"What is she to you?" demanded Gary.

The creature paused, before swiping Gary into the wall. "Know your placcce," it hissed.

"Leave him alone!" snapped Megan, firing bolts of dark energy at the creature.

The blasts shot forward and hit, before melting into the creature like water. "Tasssty," sneered the creature, before a tentacle grabbed her, "Your cuuuure is not wannnted...Shar viiirk forward our return..."

Megan shuddered with revulsion as the tentacle proved her face. Besides the obvious creepiness of the tentacle's touch, she could an aura of malevolent hunger probing at her mind.

"Your mind...such flaaavor," sneered the voice, before it finished, "You will be betterrrr exaaample...", the tip of the tentacle opening to reveal a sucker.

"What are you doing?" asked Megan, "Oh God, you're going to put your eggs into me, aren't you?"

The creature hissed in disgust before slapping the sucker onto her head. "Your ssssanity will not be neeeeded," it hissed.

"Get off of her!" snapped Gary, charging at the creature. The creature grabbed him by the throat, squeezing before throwing him back into the wall. Before Gary could get up, the creature pinned him against the wall.

The creature hissed, "You...have an aged miiiind...delicious...but witnesses are neeeeded..." before, under the dark glass, red glows...eyes were seen, Megan starting to scream.

A turgid stench hit Gary's nose, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from. It was as if shadows had a sensible smell. But of more concern to Gary was the black streaks dripping from Megan's eyes. Her screams were starting to turn into laughter slowly, the creature also laughing, before it finally tossed her at Gary's feet. "I leave you to driffffft," it sneered. It floated back at the door.

"Megan, Megan, can you hear me?" asked Gary. Just then, Megan's skin seemed to bubble before changing grey. This wasn't a particular concern to Gary until the legs of Megan's pants torn, revealing reptilian legs unlike her alien form's.

"Megan! MEGAN!" cried Gary, neither of them listening as the computer said "Test effective..no ill effects."

Megan's suit was further torn when dragon wings and an extra pair of arms grew out. But instead of growing on her left side, she now had two arms on both sides. Her tail soon grew out, a draconic head at its end which hissed and snapped at Gary.

"Megan, wake up!" cried Gary, shaking her. Megan started laughing again, and it did not sound like anything funny. "_Ma'cherie_?" said Gary carefully.

Megan turned to look at Gary. Her face didn't look too much different, asides from the grey skin, sharp teeth, and five red eyes. But there was something wrong with those eyes, very wrong. "What's wrong?" she asked in a smug tone.

"Megan, are you still...yourself?" asked Gary nervously.

"No...I feel better," said Megan, shaking her head.

"Er, maybe we should get back to the others," said Gary.

"What others? They killed everyone," said Megan, grabbing the medical computer, saving the work on it before turning it off.

"I mean we need to get back through the wormhole," said Gary.

"Ok...let's learn how to fly a 400 crew starship in 3 minutes, otherwise let's get to the escape pod," said Megan sarcastically.

"Right, the escape pod," said Gary.

"Matt better come quick..." snapped Megan...

* * *

1 year later...

12 months before arrival of rescue team...

"Where are they?" snapped Megan, sweeping a tabletop clean.

"I'm-I'm sure they're just being delayed," said Gary, "That wormhole did give off some sort of energy that indicated time dilation."

"Crap! Time dilation's never this bad. They're probably laughing. We always had to stay on the ship anyway. They've ditched us," snarled Megan.

"That isn't so," said Gary.

"Isn't it?!" snapped Megan, "That dumb bitch Hannah could have been sent. She has just as much magical experience at me, apparently. But no... She was the captain's sister, sort of, so she didn't get sent on the life-threatening mission."

"Isn't she technically a clone of the captain?" said Gary carefully. The two had been stuck on the planet for a year, in the one place the gang always ended up: New York. This one was...interesting. Last month there'd been an invasion of creatures from a place called Asgard on Manhattan, the duo's home across the river on the mainland.

"It would explain her big, stupid ego, but I couldn't care less!" snapped Megan.

"Megan, I'm sure they're looking for us. And at least this time we aren't trapped on a planet with dragons and vikings," he said jokingly.

"They've had more than enough time to look for us," snapped Megan.

"Oh? We have no beacon. They would need to search every planet in the galaxy," said Gary, using the same old argument as before.

"Like they wouldn't know we'd go to Earth," growled Megan.

"Earth is still a big planet," said Gary, "They wouldn't know where to start."

"Lies! I'm sick of hiding. I'm sick of being abandoned," snapped Megan, her eyes glowing red.

"Megan, please, things aren't that bad," said Gary. Weirdwolf whined in concern.

"Yes it is. Matt's never coming for us, don't you get it? We're on our own," snapped Megan angrily.

"Er, in which case, we may start asking how to get back. I'm sure there's some spaceships that'll take us to the wormhole. Well, maybe not that far. But perhaps far enough to get another ship..." started Gary.

"Then we'll need money," said Megan, more or less to herself.

"Well, yes. I'm not quite sure how we're going to earn enough," said Gary.

"Who said anything about earn?" snapped Megan.

"What?" asked Gary.

"We're going to take the money we need. This city's rich. They're not gonna miss it," said Megan, more to herself.

"Megan, it sounds like you're planning on stealing," said Gary with concern.

"So what if I am?" snapped Megan.

"But Megan, that's...well..." said Gary, not really sure he needed to say something that obvious.

"And you two are gonna help me," snapped Megan, her hands glowing with magic.

"Megan, you're starting to scare me," said Gary, backing up. Weirdwolf whined as he hid behind Gary.

"First of all, 'Megan' isn't a workable name for a supervillain," said Megan, "I think it's time to use my old name again. 'Lady NegaMorph' sounds so much better." Gary gulped, before Megan said "And that pooch needs teeth..." firing the first bolt at Weirdwolf.

* * *

Gary sighed, looking around. Twelve months of that...he should have acted when she began making splicers. But now that he had walked away from Megan...he wasn't sure what to do now.

He looked down as Weirdwolf put his head in his lap with a whine. At least they'd been kept together...probably helped that Matt and Chloe had threatened to see how many blasts it took to knock the Triskelion down if they were separated.

Just then, their cell door opened. Weirdwolf looked up with a growl, but Gary put a hand on his head. Matt peered in. "Hey there..." he said, before saying, "We finally convinced Fury to let you out."

"Well, that's good," said Gary, "If only I had anywhere to go."

"Hey, you got us. Connors says that if Megan wasn't in there, the dough clone woulda just been a clone of Lady Nega," said Matt, playfully punching his arm before stroking Weirdwolf's back.

"I guess that would be true," said Gary, "I just wish I could get through to the real Megan, but her dark side just keep getting more and more control."

"What happened on that ship?" asked Matt, before the alarm went off. "But that can wait," said Matt with a sigh.

* * *

"Ok...let's try this again...without calling me a monster...I want...to BUY these magazines...for M-O-N-E-Y!" Manticora said, yelling the last part at the cowering cashier.

"Just take it! Take it!" yelped the cashier. Manticora rolled her eyes with frustration. You'd think a newsstand worker in New York would be more used to this kind of thing.

"Ok...I want...to give...my money..." Manticora tried, hoping this would work as she held up a few dollars "...TO YOU...IN EXCHANGE...FOR THESE MAGAZINES!" she screamed, holding the girl mags her leader had sent her for. At least this guy hadn't fainted...or when she tried New Jersey, tried to blow her head off. Manticora took a moment to snap at the bystanders, "What are you staring at? I'm a girl buying girl magazines. Is that so unusual?"

The bystanders ran for it, apart from one small kid who just grinned and said, "You look cool." before her mother dragged her off.

Manticora sighed before turning back to the newsstand guy, "Ok, let's try this again, civilly." She paused, looking over to see the newsstand guy had fled. "Oh son of a...where can I pin this?" she muttered, holding her dollars before she noticed a reflection...a dragon. "I'm not in the mood, Lazard...and I'm trying to leave the money for him," she snapped, swinging her tail to knock Lazard flying into an abandoned car before turning. "Really, I'm trying to buy these legally," she snapped, waving the magazines.

"You mind repeating that?" asked Lazard, "I think I hit my head."

Manticora rolled her eyes, before the newsstand guy, having returned, said weakly, "That's $5.94...EEK!" yelping as Manticora tossed the notes in the air, flicked her tail and the spine fired pinned the notes to the back of the booth.

"Keep the change," she snapped.

"So what's this about?" asked Lazard, snatching the magazine.

He looked before his eye twitched, slowly passing it back, Manticora taking it. "I may be a henchwoman but some things I won't steal...mostly cause I'd be laughed at," said Manticora before turning to see Gary, in his organic gargoyle form. "Nightclaw," she said happily.

Within one second and the next, his fist hit her in the face. "I normally won't strike a lady, but I think you count more as a monster than a lady," said Gary.

Manticora got up unsteadily, shaking her head. "That...I...PAID!" she snapped, pointing at the newsstand owner. "Tell them!" she snapped, the newsstand owner pointing with a shaking hand at the payment, the moment spoilt that the spine seemed to be melting the notes.

Gary glanced at the cover of the magazine before asking, "What kind of book is that?"

"Lady NegaMorph...wanted girl magazines. Don't ask me why. She's been in a mood all week," said Manticora, holding up one of the magazines.

Gary spun to look away. "_Mon dieu_," he muttered.

"Are...are we still fighting cause that's putting me off," said Lazard finally, pointing at the magazines.

"Wait, this magazine says it has an interview with Squirrel Girl," said Gary, looking at the cover.

"What? Really? Why her?" asked Lazard.

Gary flipped the magazine open and said, "Apparently she's selling a line of perfumes and... _Zut alores_..." Matt peered in before looking too, the two looking, even the newsstand guy joining in.

"Erm...guys? Fighting now?" Manticora said, before shrugging and knocking Gary and Lazard out by bopping their heads together. Manticora glanced at the picture they were ogling before snorting. "Sellout..." she muttered before taking off.

* * *

"Did you get them?" sighed Falcore, looking at a list he'd been given before passing her a tub of Ben & Jerry's. "Just in case," he said, Manticora nodding.

"Hey, does that zine have She-Hulk in it?" asked Taurus.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Manticora, "She-Hulk has higher standards."

Falcore opened one, flicking through before raising an eyebrow feather. "Page 17," he said, muttering, "That said, it's tasteful."

"Really?" asked Taurus, reaching for the magazine.

A blast of shadow energy nearly took his hand off. "Not your clumsy hoof!" snapped Lady Nega, marching towards them, "I want to read that before you make it illegible."

Falcore took the magazine back, putting it back on the neat pile and walking up, kneeling and offering it. "Your...magazines. Though I fail to see how this will help."

"You know nothing about girls," said Lady Nega, "Maybe I should fix that."

Falcore raised an eyebrow. "My apologies, I foresaw that so we teamed up to marker pen that chapter out of your spellbook while Manticora distracted you with ice cream last Monday," he said calmly.

Lady NegaMorph glared before chanting something and waving all four hands. Falcore and Manticora suddenly had blank looks on their faces before something seemed to shimmer between them.

Taurus peered in. "Boss, know it's not my place, but you just put your two best fighters out of commission," he said, before Lady Nega turned to look at him. The remaining splicers didn't see much, except Lady Nega shrieked, tentacles seen around her head, before Taurus, shaking like a leaf said "Comment withdrawn." in a weak voice.

'Manticora' blinked before asking, "What just happened?" She looked down at herself and said, "Oh, you've got to be kidding."

'Falcore' snapped "Why me? It was him...her who was a smartass!" he snapped.

Manticora, wearing the calm expression usually reserved for the birdman, said, "Interesting...I can see why you gloat, Manticora. This body is tough."

"That's your only reaction?" asked 'Falcore' incredulously.

"One body's the same as another. Lady NegaMorph made sure I was capable of fighting properly," 'Manticora' said sagely.

Lady Nega smirked and said, "Maybe I can make it permanent." Both of the duo snapping "NO!" in terror.

"Good. Now leave me be while I read," said Lady Nega.

"Come sis...brother. I should teach you how to use my wind blades before you hurt yourself," said 'Manticora' calmly, leading the glaring Falcore out.

* * *

Some time later, Falcore returned to Lady NegaMorph. Well, Falcore in Manticora's body. "Er, mistress, are you about done?" she asked.

"Just about. I will have a few jobs for you and Manticora. If you do it right, I might swap you back before the dance," said Lady NegaMorph, Falcore noticing several devices on Lady Nega's workbench.

"My Lady, those aren't what I think they are...are they?" she asked, walking over and picking one up.

"Put that down before you break it," said Lady Nega.

"They're mutagen bombs..." said Falcore with a smirk, "I have to admit I like the plan more. But why would you need them for some da...oh no...you aren't."

"I deserve to have some good memories," said Lady Nega, "And I doubt I could just walk into a school dance."

Falcore shrugged. "Could be worse. Might I suggest a test...to show you're serious first? Last thing we want is Lazard and his friends crashing the party," she said, evilly.

"I think I know just the place," said Lady Nega.

* * *

The shopkeeper looked up as the door opened, a teen in some sort of hooded cloak walking in, two similarly dressed figures with her. "Can I help you three? LARPing?" he asked.

"Yes," said the teen, lowering her hood to reveal a redheaded girl, "I was here to get my corsage, remember?"

"Ah...the last minuter. You're cutting it close," said the shopkeeper, leaning down behind the counter and coming back up with a small wrapped box. "Which school prom you going to if I may ask?" he asked, pausing. The young woman at the back...her hand looked like it had claws before she pulled her sleeve down over it.

"Just at the most popular school in the city," said the teen.

"Oh...they had to rebuild that after that monster invasion. Lucky you," said the shopkeeper cheerfully. This girl...something was...familiar but he blew it off.

"Yes, it's going to be a night no one will forget," said the girl.

The girl opened the box to see a orange-flowered corsage in it. "I asked for purple," she said darkly, the shopkeeper rolling his eyes. All these last minuters expected the moon on a plate.

"Sorry, you shoulda been earlier. There's some nice blue ones left if you don't like that," he said.

"Blue is not my color. Don't you at least have red ones?" asked the girl.

"I told you, the red ones were sold out first," said the shopkeeper.

"I want...a red one..." said the girl with surprising ferocity, causing the shopkeeper to take a step back.

"Look, take it or leave it," he said.

One of the girl's companions said, "You know it would easy to turn this one red, right?"

"It's...the principle. Plus the more we buy legally, the less attention we get," snapped the girl.

"Excuse me?" asked the shopkeeper.

"I thought the point of coming here was to draw attention," said the other companion.

"Good point, Falcore." said the girl.

The shopkeeper froze at that, before he said, his brain making the connections, before he said "Maybe...I could take one last look in the back?" in a shaking voice.

"Don't worry," said the girl, her eyes turning red as three extra ones opened, "It'll be red in a few seconds." The shopkeeper gulped before pressing the silent alarm button under his counter, in time for an orb to stick to his chest, a green liquid in it. "Have fun," said the girl, she and her companions leaving as it began to beep.

* * *

Dakota and Wolf-Bat landed on the rooftop, looking down. "A silent alarm in a flower shop. This cities getting paranoid," said Wolf-Bat, the two peering down.

"Not without reason," remarked Dakota. Just then, windows were broken as what looked like vines came out. "Ok cue," Dakota said, pausing and smirking, "Let's do some pruning, Wolf-Bat." before she jumped down.

"Well, you have the machetes to do that," said Wolf-Bat, jumping after her.

The two landed easily, Wolf-Bat grumbling as most people ran from them, screaming about mutants before the door to the shop was torn off and some sort of...plant man ran out, hissing. "How often to plant monsters attack this city?" asked Wolf-Bat.

"Unless they have a counterpart to Poison Ivy here, probably not that often," said Dakota.

"You...you work for heeeer..." hissed the plant man, swiping a vine like arm out at them.

Dakota and Wolf-Bat dodged the vine. "Ok, this isn't a mindless plant, I think," said Dakota.

"You work for Negaaaaaa..." hissed the mutant.

"That we mostly certainly do not," said Wolf-Bat.

The mutant shrieked before lunging at that, smashing Dakota aside to reach Wolf-Bat. Wolf-Bat yelped and backwinged as fast as he could. "Why couldn't I have gotten extra powers, like a supersonic screech and/or howl?" he muttered.

"How would that help?" snapped Dakota, the plant man hissing again.

Wolf-Bat slashed before his nanites said, "Class B mutagen detected...preparing antigen."

"What, really?" asked Wolf-Bat. However, he was distracted at the wrong time and a vine wrapped around his legs.

"You did thiiiiis..." hissed the plant guy angrily, the other vine suddenly sprouting spikes.

"I've never seen you before in my life!" yelped Wolf-Bat as he flew up. The plant guy was pulled up with him, but the upward ascension came to an abrupt halt when the plant's roots reached their limit.

"You not escaaape..." snapped the mutant, Wolf-Bat's wristcomp saying "Antigen ready...please administer." a dart loading.

"Hey buddy, I've got something to treat your root rot," said Wolf-Bat before aiming down and firing the dart.

The mutant yelped staggering back as he started to shrink. Wolf-Bat hovered back down to the ground as the mutated foliage started drying up and crumbling. The plant guy soon reverted to a normal shopkeeper.

Dakota got up unsteadily from where she'd been knocked before turning on her comm, "SHIELD, this is Dakota. We're new to this verse, but do shopkeepers turn into plant people and back in this dimension?"

"Well, he couldn't an Inhuman. The Terrigin Mist wave was months ago and they don't take that long to emerge. Anyways, mutations of any kind don't tend to wear off," said Fury, "Scan for any alien DNA."

Dakota turned to the shaking shopkeeper, saying "Excuse me, could you hold still?" before making the mistake of smiling: raptors should never smile to calm someone down...and the shopkeeper had seen Jurassic Park more than once.

"Huh, he runs pretty fast for someone who was rooted to the ground a minute ago," remarked Wolf-Bat.

"Great..." muttered Dakota.

* * *

"You got your butts kicked by a veggie?" laughed Matt.

"You got disarmed by a walking tree once," pointed out Chloe.

"He was a friend...sort of," said Matt.

"It was one of Megan's, found this," said Chris, tossing a broken orb over, "Got her smell all over it."

Matt looked over the orb. "Probably contained a small payload of mutagen. Not particularly strong stuff if it could be countered that easily. Seems to be reactive to the environment it's exposed to."

"So a guy who runs a flower shop would turn into a plant mutate?" asked Chloe.

"Why?" said Matt in confusion, "Did he send her the wrong flowers or something?"

"Maybe she wants to see if this stuff will work on plant DNA," said Chloe.

"Better ways to do it," said Chris calmly.

"I guess we need to keep an eye on any botany-related places to see if she'll strike again," said Chloe.

A beep was heard at that...actually three beeps at once. Comm messages. "Ok...that's...weirdly in sync," said Matt, calling his up.

An image of Lady NegaMorph's appeared on his wristcomp. "Hello there," said her recorded voice, "I'm sure you've noticed what season it is. There's love in the air, along with some mutagen. But you can do something about that last one." Matt and the other exchanged a look as Lady Nega continued, "Yet another crime dear Lynch put against me. I was sucked into his mayhem long before I could enjoy my school dance."

"She's not be serious, is she?" asked Matt.

"Imagine, for all my power and beauty, I've never gone to a school dance," said Lady Nega.

"Maybe that's because you were never in school," said Chloe dryly.

"Well, I'm not about to miss my junior prom. I've got almost everything I need: my dress, my corsage, my ride, and my chaperones. All I need now is my date and a place to dance at. You know, there are a lot of high schools in New York, plenty of proms to attend. But Midtown High seems to be the most popular place for any villain to go to."

The group paused as Megan continued. "Now, I understand SHIELD and Lazard, stupid name by the way, will want to stop me. So I had my splicers plant far bigger mutagen bombs in every public area in the city...and in the school. If dear Gary doesn't take me to the dance..." Lady Nega said with a evil grin, "Oh, and I wouldn't do anything like calling off the dance or trying to arrest me when I get there. All I want is a lovely, memorable evening. And if I can't have one, no one else will. Well, at least not the 'lovely' part, but I can make it very memorable."

She paused at that, saying "Is it off? What do you mean it's still going? I can't see the...turn it off, TURN IT-" before the line went dead.

"She's not really that crazy or petty, right?" asked Matt.

"Well, I think this kinda confirms she's crazy enough," said Chris.

"And she is definitely that petty," said Chloe.

"Look, we just deal with this before Fury finds ou-" began Matt.

"Lazard, my office, now!" snapped Fury's voice on the intercom.

"He got the same message, didn't he?" asked Chris flatly.

* * *

"You told me she stole that...splicing technology," said Fury icily.

"She did," said Chris, "I'm living proof of that."

"She seems to claim otherwise," said Fury.

Matt said calmly, "Well of course she'd say that."

"He haven't really been able to get a full inventory of what she's acquired before we got here," said Chloe.

"You willing to risk the city on that hunch?" said Fury.

"I never said that," said Chloe, "Let's not forget that underneath all the megalomania, dark magic, and stolen genetic tech, she's still a teenage girl."

"Chloe..." said Matt warningly before he said, "So we're letting her have this dance? At a high school? I've dealt with high school. Will it save time if we set the school on fire _before_ the local bullies see her?"

"The problem is if she doesn't go, she'll set off who knows how many mutagen bombs," said Chris, "I doubt we'll be able to find every one in time."

"All she wants is a school dance...and maybe Gary as her date. I'm...failing to see too much world domination," said Chloe.

"Nick, I know-" started Matt before Fury gave him a deadly glare. "Director Fury," restarted Matt, "I know you're usually in the business of dealing with global threats, but even some of them can't be wanting to take over the world everyday. Maybe some of them do want a little bit of their old lives."

"Megan's one thing...but she keeps her deals. Plus she won't set off the bombs if the prom goes well," said Chloe in agreement.

Chris nodded, "Just let us handle this. If she see's SHIELD, and she even sets off one bomb, it'll be mass panic."

"No offense, but you three look a little too old for high school," said Fury.

"Who would notice?" asked Matt blithely.

"I don't think that's going to quite fly under the radar," said Fury, "I don't think you'll be able to attend as guests. But you can attend as chaperones."

Matt blinked. "Chaperones?" he said.

Chloe said, "At a high school dance?"

"But wouldn't chaperones have to, well, chaperone someone?" asked Chris.

"Fortunately, we have some ideal agents for this mission for you to escort," said Fury.

"Who?" said Matt suspiciously

* * *

"I'm going to prom?!" yelped Spider-Man.

"You're saying that like you're going to a death match," said Matt.

Chloe sighed. "Look, we don't exactly wanna go either but we need to be on site to disarm Lady Nega's bombs before she turns the Big Apple into the Big Zoo." before she smirked "So...who's the lucky girl?" in a teasing voice.

"MJ...MJ asked me to the dance..." said Spider-Man, clutching his head.

"And that's so terrible because?" asked Matt.

"I was expecting something else to happen," said Spider-Man, "I expected Doc Ock or Loki or even Galactus to attack and give me an excuse not to go."

Matt blinked before he said in confusion, "Ok...so...the girl of your dreams...wants to go to the school dance with you. You have not had to prompt her in any way to do this...and that's bad...how?"

"I've...not had good experiences with dances," said Spider-Man.

* * *

A younger Peter is standing near a punch bowl when a younger Flash dunks him into it.

* * *

A younger Peter is walking through a door when a younger Flash trips him and causes him to knock over another girl.

* * *

An older Peter is sitting out one dance when a robot bursts through a wall not far from him.

* * *

"Oh, it's like me and how Fa-EEEEE!" said Matt before squeaking and crumpling, Chris and Peter jumping back...with good reason as Matt's squeaking was thanks to Chloe deploying the 'Megan knee'.

"You are _not_ jinxing this!" she snapped as Matt made what sounded like a bubbling noise from ground level.

"Well, Flash is a lot nicer now so you won't have to worry about him," said Chris, "And as for-" He stopped when Chloe gave him a glare. "I think you'll have enough backup for this," said Chris, "It's not like you don't have a suit to wear or you don't know how to dance."

"And Kala will insist on coming too. She's going stir crazy," said Chloe with a sigh, adding, "And she's probably found out by now."

"The important thing is that you're going to have a good time...and make sure Megan has a good time," said Chris.

Matt squeaked, "Yes...we do not want a case of 'Carrie'." before coughing, managing to say, "Does Stephen King even exist in this world?"

"Which movie do you mean?" asked Peter.

"Wait, how many movies are there?" asked Matt.

"I've seen enough to know just what would happen," said Peter.

* * *

Megan looks like she's having a fine time at the dance until a bucket of pig's blood is dropped on her. Immediately, her eyes turn red and the gym is lit on fire.

* * *

"You have seen the film...saves time," said Matt with partial relief, adding, "This has to be the perfect night for her."

"I hope she's not expecting to be crowned queen," said Chloe. Everyone looked at Chloe with skeptical looks at that. Chloe said "Of course." in a dark tone.

* * *

"That should make sure they aren't nosy or troublesome," sneered Lady Nega smugly.

Falcore said, "You lied about the bombs in the main city, why? We only had enough to mine the school."

"If they knew that, they'd just cancel the dance or move it," said Lady Nega, "This is the only way I can go."

"And what about us? The Lynches _will_ find some way to be on site. You should not go without us...and we will need disguises," said Falcore, adding, "Perhaps some anti-gen..."

"That's easy enough," said Lady Nega, "A few 'don't notice me' glamours will do the trick."

"We'd need to be noticed somehow. As I said...a cure might..." before she gripped her head.

"You must think I'm a moron. You'll take the glamour and like it," Lady Nega snarled, "You don't have to shadow me all evening. You can dance if you want to."

"I'd prefer my original body for that. Manticora has already chopped the fridge in half. I'm afraid the cookie dough ice cream was a casualty," said Falcore calmly.

Two of Lady Nega's eyes twitched at that and said, "Perhaps I should a cap on Manticora's powers."

"Or put us back in our own bodies?" tried Falcore, "It seems adding several female splices together makes for...quite the hormone mix and I'd prefer my focus tonight."

"That just makes it all the more interesting," said Lady Nega.

Falcore glared. "At least say if it reverses by itself," she said through gritted teeth.

"Maybe..." said Lady Nega coyly.

"Uuuuurgh...so...when do we head out?" said Falcore, her ear twitching before she stepped to the side, pushing Lady Nega the same way before a wind blade demolished the wall.

"SORRY!" called Manticora.

"Ok, I'm definitely deactivating her powers," said Lady Nega.

"Wise decision," said Falcore, "As for our departure."

"We've got until Friday, there's no rush," said Lady Nega.

"But it's Monday..." said Falcore through gritted teeth.

"Yes, an entire week," said Lady Nega happily.

"But that's not fair," said Falcore, losing a little composure.

"I know," laughed Lady Nega, adding, "I know you too well, Falcore. I know you're planning something to escape. So I'm...holding a hostage."

Falcore's eye twitched and she said, "If I go mad, it'll be on your head."

"You'll be fine. You might even enjoy yourself," said Lady NegaMorph, before saying, "Now go get my date. Somehow I think he might be reluctant."

* * *

"I have until Friday, I don't need to see her right away," said Gary with annoyance, "She can use a weblink like everyone else."

"She wants this to be traditional, meaning she'll want you to ask," said Chloe.

Gary gulped and Wierdwolf said, "Gary dead."

"Can't I just ask her over video chat?" asked Gary.

"Video chat? Who are you and what have you done with Gary?" asked Matt.

Gary said, "We were stuck here three years. I had time to explore the technology of the modern world." in a slightly scathing voice.

"That wasn't a smooth transition, was it?" asked Chloe.

Gary paused. "Not exactly..."

* * *

1 and a half years ago...

Megan sighed, opening the door to the apartment they'd managed to rent, pausing as she smelled smoke. "Gary...are you making toast?" she said, walking towards the kitchen and pausing.

Gary had made toast...out of the toaster which was merrily burning away. "I can explain..." said Gary.

* * *

"Can you still explain?" asked Matt.

Gary said sullenly, "No."

"Anyways, you don't have to worry," said Chloe, "We'll be meeting Megan on neutral territory."

"Are you sure it's neutral?" asked Gary.

"Of course," said Chloe, "We'll be having our hair and nails and getting a facial afterwards."

Matt nodded. "Yup nice and, wait...are we going to a spa?" he said with worry.

"Oh, I don't think you'll really- KALA, NOW!" called Chloe.

Matt turned and blasted an incoming net before blowing a hole in the wall and throwing himself out, screaming "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" flying off towards the city, screaming mostly incoherently.

Kala looked at the singed net before saying, "On the bright side, that's the closest we've ever gotten."

"There's always another day," said Chloe, "Once your powers reboot, you'll probably be able to bag him."

"Why were you gonna drag him to the spa anyway? He once said he'd rather eat compost casserole and the meatloaf then go to something like that," asked Kala.

"Precisely for that reason," said Chloe.

"Did he upset you?" asked Gary sagely.

"Generally or specifically?" asked Chloe.

Gary thought about it for a second before simply saying, "Yes."

* * *

Matt looked over at Chris and asked something, though it was a bit hard to tell what considering his mouth was covered with webbing. "Heck no," said Chris, "Do I look like I want to be here?"

Matt glared, presumably planning some sort of vengeance. His vengeance in particular was towards his sister and the one responsible for the webbing. "Why exactly did we need to bring him here?" asked MJ.

"Revenge," said Chloe happily, a nervous attendant filing her claws.

"Can't you get your human form's nails done?" asked MJ.

"I haven't been able to shift back since the Savage Land. Techo's programming a holo-guise but it will take some time," Chloe said.

"So wouldn't coming here as a dinosaur draw more attention?" asked MJ.

"Where else could I get my nails done?" asked Chloe.

"As long as she doesn't eat the clientele, we're fine," said the apparent owner, "She comes in twice a week."

Chloe paused and said with a laugh, "No...this is my...first time." looking both ways. Under his gag, Matt smirked. His revenge was already formulating. "Do not even think about it," hissed Chloe, the attendant jumping.

"Uh, I'm going to get some new lipstick," said MJ before walking off.

* * *

"You want me to do what? It's clearly a trap," Gary said, Chloe sulking in the corner.

"You turn one attendant into a triceratops lady for 5 minutes and they ban you for life," she muttered darkly.

Matt said, "Look, we don't like it either but these mutagen bombs are real."

"Can't I do it online like teens usually do these days?" asked Gary.

"Don't you owe it to Megan to ask her to her first dance in person?" asked Chloe.

Gary paused before saying, "That's a low blow...but you are right."

"So when is she supposed to be here?" asked Matt.

"There was an attachment for you," said Chloe, passing Gary a data chip.

* * *

"Why isn't he calling?" snapped Lady NegaMorph.

Manticora said, "I told you, you wanted it done proper. He's not gonna video chat you to ask."

"He's not that old-fashioned," said Lady NegaMorph.

"He was alive during the French Revolution," said Manticora bluntly.

"Ok...shut up," said Lady Nega sulkily before sending another call request.

"Attempt 417 in progress," said the computer.

* * *

Gary paused as he felt a tingle in his upper leg. "There it is again," he muttered.

"Just answer it!" snapped Chloe, Gary taking out a small mobile.

"Wait...you had a mobile...all this time...we coulda traced..." said Matt, his eye starting to twitch as Gary managed to reply.

"Bonjour?" he asked before wincing, holding it at length.

"GARY, WHY HAVEN'T YOU ANSWER YOUR PHONE?!" snapped Lady NegaMorph's voice.

"Because I haven't heard it ring," said Gary.

"It was set to vibrate for power-saving," said Lady Nega with annoyance.

"Is that what that tingling was?" asked Gary.

Lady Nega's voice paused before saying, "Matt, I know you and your friends are there. One of you slap him,"

"With pleasure," said Chloe before smacking Gary upside the head.

"Ow," said Gary gloomily before Lady NegaMorph said "Now then...is there something you want to ask me?" in a happy voice, as Gary's phone screen began to flash the low battery sign.

"Oh, right. Megan, would you go to the dance with... Hello?" asked Gary.

* * *

Lady Nega looked at the now-dead phone, the splicers slowly backing for the nearest door, before she snapped "CLOSE ENOUGH!"

* * *

"I think the phone went dead." said Gary in a weak voice.

Matt patted his back, "It'll be close enough."

"Matt, we'll need to give Gary a proper education in cell phones later," said Chloe.

* * *

"Ok, Gary, what do you think...goes on at a school dance?" Matt asked, Peter with him. The team had decided to try and make sure he knew what to do, after explaining to the Web Warriors about Gary's past.

"Well, dancing, right?" asked Gary.

"Define dancing," said Matt carefully, silently praying that it wouldn't be what he thought it was.

"Do they still do waltzes?" asked Gary.

"Wow...he really is out of touch," said Sam, him and Ava the only ones free to help.

"Hey, I was dead for several centuries and on a ship for the rest of it," said Gary in a hurt voice.

"Maybe he should listen to what kind of music teens listen to these days," said Ava.

"I got my iPod," said Sam passing it over and hitting random when Gary had gotten the earpieces in.

Gary waited before saying, "So is this like-" before he suddenly clutched at his head and screamed with agony.

"Sam...is that human music?" asked Matt, taking one of the earpieces and listening. It was Earth music, but it was rather loud, and not particularly melodic. He carefully removed the earpiece and dropped it. "Ok, it might be human...or a banshee. Let's try something else," Matt said, hitting random on it again.

Gary stopped wincing and said, "Ok this is better...but rather confusing."

Matt listened before looking confused. He admittedly hadn't really spent long times on Earth since he'd been introduced to Nullspace...but this music... "Ok, Sam, you have weird music tastes."

"Well pardon me for variety," said Sam.

Ava sighed before saying, "How about we listen to something he's actually expected to dance to." With that, she selected one of the slower songs on the playlist.

Gary paused...this song sounded right. He could imagine him and Megan slow-dancing to the tune. Of course it would be luck if it played or not...but still.

"One little thing," said Matt, "You think you can manage to kiss her when the moment's right?"

Gary paused before saying in a low voice, "Only Megan..."

Matt sighed and said, "That may be a bit much to hope for, but we'll figure it out when we can."

"That said...Lady NegaMorph will detonate her devices if I do not..." continued Gary with a sigh.

"Take one for the team," said Sam before Ava punched his shoulder.

"Ok, if you can, get her detonator off her. If we get that, her plan's kaput," said Matt.

"Dresses don't have pockets, do they?" asked Gary.

"Not usually but I doubt she'll let that thing out of reach," said Chloe.

"Just don't get too handsy," said Ava, "It's going to give off the wrong message."

"Agreed, the last thing we need is a Carrie situation," said Chloe.

"Well, at least the girls at Midtown High are nicer than the boys, right?" asked Peter.

"Uh, yeah, sure," said Ava.

"Ok...so we know what to do. We try and find these bombs and diffuse them if Gary can't get the detonator. Then we hogtie Megan and give her brain a good scrubbing," said Matt, clapping his hands together.

"Right, I should be helping out with finding those bombs and-" started Peter.

"Not so fast," said Chloe, "Someone will need to stay on the floor and keep an eye on things."

Chris grinned. "You _will_ go to the ball, kid," he said evilly.

"You won't be alone," said Ava.

"You'll probably be the only one with a date though," said Sam.

"Just make sure their date goes smooth before we disarm the bombs," said Chloe.

"Sure," said Peter before muttering, "I just hope my own date doesn't become a disaster."

"Why? You and MJ were made for each other," said Matt.

Ava cleared her throat and said, "Sam, don't we need to work on that other mission?"

"What other mission?" asked Sam before Ava grabbed him and pulled out of the room.

Chloe grabbed Matt and Chris at that. "Gary, come along. Let's get you set up," she said, dragging Matt and Chris out with her.

Gary turned to Peter and said, "I think your reluctance has more to do with yourself than her, am I right?"

"I...MJ isn't safe around me. I can't go a week without some supervillain attacking. It's surprisingly regular," said Peter gloomily.

"That seems to be a common thing for heroes," said Gary, "But Mary Jane is hardly defenseless."

"Yes, but she wants to be a journalist. How can she live the life she wants if me and supervillains get in the way?" asked Peter.

"Actually, I think she would be able to balance those two careers rather easily, if those other comics I've read are anything to judge by," said Gary, "And I think she wants more than just that."

Peter looked confused. "Comics?" he said before Chloe yelled "GARY!"

"Er, perhaps another time," said Gary before walking away.

* * *

"Well, the day I've been dreading has arrived. I was really hoping something would happen to keep me from going. But nothing all week. It's as if the bad guys were taking time off. The only thing that happened was that UFO landing on the other side of Queens. And they were just looking for directions. So now...here I go. I might actually get lucky and nothing'll ruin this for MJ,"

Peter walked up to the door. Tonight was the night. Peter knocked on it and fought not to bolt off. Mary Jane and him were just friends, right? They had their first kiss when they were 12 and that didn't work out. Surely there was nothing more serious between them.

Just then, the door opened and Peter fought not to let his jaw drop. Mary Jane was wearing a black strapless dress that had loosely connected long sleeves. "Uh, Mary Jane, you look...wow," said Peter, dumbstruck.

Mary Jane just chuckled and said, "Face it, tiger. You just hit the jackpot."

"So, ahem, I'm not sure about how we'll get there..." started Peter.

Just then, a limo rolled up. The back window rolled down, revealing Harry's face. "Hey, Pete, can I offer you a ride?" he asked.

"Harry," said MJ happily, waving, Peter sighing with relief. As per usual, Harry had saved his bacon...at least when it came to non-hero stuff. "Why didn't I get more limo rides from you before?" asked Mary Jane as she walked to the door.

"My dad says that if I was going to be picking up chicks in a limo, it couldn't be his limo," said Harry.

"Seriously?" asked MJ with some annoyance.

"I'm sure he'd realize we're just friends, but, well, you know how my dad tends to be...picky with my friends," said Harry.

"Not completely mellowed out then," said MJ, Peter and her getting into the back with Harry.

"He's getting better," said Harry, "Ever since he's permanently Goblin-proofed himself, he's been a whole new man. He just backslid a bit when I was Anti-Venom."

"I'm really sorry about that," said Peter.

"You don't have to keep blaming yourself," said Harry, "So...supervillainess coming to the prom."

Peter rolled his eyes. "All she apparently wants is a perfectly normal dance," he said.

"It wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't threatening everyone," said MJ.

"Well, she is a supervillain," pointed out Harry.

"But somewhere deep inside is the girl she's supposed to be," said Mary Jane.

"Well if everything goes right, we'll catch her and Matt and his friends can snap her to her senses," said Peter.

"Hopefully," said MJ, "But it doesn't mean we can't have our own fun."

"Yeah, Matt said he'd handle it," said Peter.

* * *

Meanwhile, Matt, Kala, Chloe, and Chris were 'chaperoning' Gary to the dance. There were enough holo-cloaks to make everyone look human. Though Gary and Kala didn't need holo-cloaks for that. Matt tried not to remark on that since Kala was a little sore about her powers taking so long to come back. But at least she looked nice in that dress.

"Ok, now then, you make her enjoy every minute of this night," said Matt, adding, "Because what don't we want?"

Gary said nervously, "A Carrie." Matt had made him watch the film...

"Correct. Chloe, Chris, you'll be in charge of diverting the jerks away from Megan," said Matt.

Chris grinned. "That should be fun," he said.

"I feel like I'm being type-casted for some reason," said Chloe.

"Chloe, I'm giving you reason, nay _permission_ to eat anyone who messes with Megan," said Matt, Chloe actually perking up.

"So what will we be doing?" asked Kala.

"Kala, we will actually try to have a date," said Matt, Chloe opening her mouth only for Matt to turn and fix her with a glare.

"That would be nice for once," said Kala, smiling sweetly.

"Yeah...any objections?" said Matt, grinning and revealing the holo-cloak didn't cover teeth.

"Only if the heavens don't rain fire," said Chris, holding a hand out the window.

Matt glared and blasted Chris's hands with fire. "There, it rained fire," he said icily.

"I think you mistook the meaning of my words," said Chris, waving the fire out.

"Doesn't matter, I'm having a date with Kala," said Matt.

The limo finally pulled up. "Ok, game faces," said Matt, reaching for the door. The group got out of the limo and looked around. There were plenty of teens heading for Midtown High's gym, but no sign of Lady Nega. "Wait, is she actually late?" asked Matt.

Just then, they heard the sound of hoofsteps and they looked to see a carriage being driven down the street. The carriage itself was being pulled by Taurus who, as he slowed, said darkly, "One word...just...one word...I dare you."

Chloe, however, was tilting her head back and forth. "Guys, you notice something a little weird?" she asked.

"Asides from the minotaur pulling the carriage?" asked Matt dryly.

"What minotaur?" asked Kala.

"Kala, honey, what are you seeing pulling that carriage?" asked Matt.

Kala shrugged. "Big horse, stallion I think," she said.

Matt and Chloe looked at one another. "Makes sense. She wouldn't want a panic. Luckily it doesn't work on cameras," said Matt, taking out his phone and taking a pic, Taurus heard yelling "Oh come oooon."

"So who's driving the carriage?" asked Kala.

Matt and Chloe looked at the coachman, who happened to be a ghostly skeleton. The skeleton noticed their staring and politely tipped its top hat at them. "You don't wanna know," said Matt.

The door opened and Manticora stepped off, for some reason wearing Falcore's body armor. "Do I have to say it? Fine. Ladies and gentlemen, behold your future ruler, Lady NegaMorph," she said in a bored tone, somehow reminding Matt of Falcore.

Then Lady NegaMorph alighted from the carriage. She did clean up rather nicely. She wore a little black dress and matching opera gloves. Her makeup was less gothic and more tasteful. It certainly helped that she was in human form this time. "No need to bow," Lady NegaMorph said smugly, before glaring some chuckling heard.

"I thought the idea was to have a normal dance," said Matt.

"This is Megan..." said Chloe.

Matt nodded, "Point taken."

Gary walked up to Lady Nega, who turned to look at her, and, for a second almost made him forget it was her sickening other using her voice. "You look lovely," said Gary.

"Why...thanks. You look fine yourself," said Lady NegaMorph, offering her arm to take before pulling him closer. "Remember, you screw this night up for me and all I need to do is push a button," she hissed at him before being all smiles again.

"Would it kill you to act like the real Megan for one evening?" muttered Gary.

Ah, ah, ah..." sneered Lady Nega, taking a small disk out of her dress, a single touchscreen button on it, "Like I said...one little button."

"Just where were you keeping that?" asked Gary.

"That's a secret. Wouldn't want you taking it," said Lady Nega before hissing, "Now let's start the night right. Compliment me."

"I just did," said Gary.

"Something more specific," said Lady Nega.

"Erm...it compliments your eyes?" he tried, a long silence heard before Lady Nega smiled.

"Very good...now, shall we?"

* * *

"Man, we're gonna have our work cut out," said Matt, as the couples walked into the school.

"Yeah, we need to make sure that none of the troublemakers- Oh look, there's Peter and Mary Jane," said Kala. The two turned to look to see the couple. "Aw, it's such a cute couple," said Kala, squeezing Matt's arm, Matt twitching as he felt the blood supply to his hand cut off...Kala was definitely getting better.

"Maybe we should go over and say 'hi'," said Matt.

"Oh, give them a little space," said Kala, "They need time to relax."

"Ok. Come on, honey. Let's go mingle," said Matt, walking in.

* * *

The peace didn't last long. Lady Nega's little intro had practically painted a picture on her back for every bully and asshole in the school.

"You know, if you hadn't announced yourself like that, you wouldn't be getting all the negative attention," said Gary after Lady Nega a third girl a case of frog lips.

"I'm their future overlord. I need to start early," said Lady Nega loftily.

"I thought you just wanted a normal date," said Gary.

"Normal for us." said Lady Nega, Gary getting a distant look.

* * *

"You know, as much as I'd like to have dinner alone, I'm sort of questioning the surroundings," said Gary. This was mainly said because they were in Megan's room.

"It's because as soon as we even talk about Matt and company, something will happen. So I've decided we'll have a nice private meal. I'm even making a chocolate souffle," said Megan happily.

"Is there ice cream?" asked Gary.

"Of course," said Megan.

Gary smiled before pausing. The door had opened and what looked like a mouse with bat wings had glided in, looking behind it before scuttling into cover. A second later, Morph ran in. "Did a mutant mouse come in here?" he asked, adding by afterthought, "I definitely didn't accidentally make it and now have to get rid of it to cover up my mistake."

"If one came in here, would it have been trouble?" asked Megan.

"It bit its way through a bulkhead and ate Matt's hat," said Morph.

"That's the fourth hat this year," said Gary.

"I can't keep replacing them without him noticing," said Morph before pausing, slowly lifting the mallet.

"Erm...Morph?" said Megan nervously, the two staring at his sudden focussed look before turning to see said mouse next to Megan's pride and joy dessert. "Morph, don't you dare," said Megan.

Morph seemingly wasn't listening. "I'm a good aim," he said, swinging.

Megan covered her eyes as she heard a splat, before opening her eyes...to see the mallet had hit just next to her creation, happily intact...right till Morph yelled "WOO HOO! GOT IT!" The souffle bubbled before deflating with a noise not unlike a whoopie cushion being sat on.

Morph looked at the soufflé and said, "You knew that was gonna happen eventually, right?"

Megan twitched before starting to snarl...

* * *

"Point to you," said Gary darkly.

"Anyways, these young people may as well know who their future queen is. It isn't if I have a civilian life to hide behind," said Lady Nega. However, the look on Gary's face made her pause. "Gary..." she said in confusion.

"Is anything left of Megan in you?" he asked a little harshly.

"I still have her memories," said Lady Nega.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," snapped Gary.

"She's weak. She doesn't deserve you," snapped Lady Nega.

Gary's earpiece beeped. "No Carrie," snapped Matt's voice. Gary, who had been winding to lay out a tirade on Lady Nega, reined himself in with difficulty.

Lady Nega, misunderstanding it as a victory, said "That's right. I'm better than she ever was."

Gary clenched his hands into fists, but held his tongue. As much as he'd like to snap at Lady Nega, there were too many innocent lives at stake.

"Good..." said Lady Nega smugly, before she was all smiles again, "Shall we dance?"

Gary sighed and said, "I guess so."

* * *

Meanwhile, Peter and Mary Jane had been going around the gym, catching up with some old friends. Well, Mary Jane was mostly, Peter was trying to keep Gary and Lady Nega in sight. But then a familiar voice said, "Hey, Peter, great to see you again." Peter turned to see Principal Stan.

"Stan, I wouldn't have thought you'd be here," said Peter.

"It's the prom. I'm helping with chaperoning you kids," said Stan cheerfully.

"Your suit looks nice," said Mary Jane.

"Why thank you," said Stan, "And you two look splendid yourselves. You know, I always thought you two would make the best couple here."

Peter spluttered a little as MJ laughed. "Sorry about her," she said, pointing to Lady Nega.

"Believe it or not, I've seen worse villains trying to dominate a party. Why, I recall back in the day when Baron Zemo, that would be Heinrich Zemo, not Helmut Zemo. Anyways, there was this big shindig with the major Allied forces..."

Kala walked up at that. "Problem, Matt found one of the bombs," she muttered.

"Where is it?" asked Mary Jane.

* * *

"I'm on the roof, water tank. I can smell the plasma detonator on it. This thing blows, it'll contaminate the sprinkler system," said Matt.

"A classic two-fold trap," said Stan's voice, "When the water's contaminated, she can just set off the fire sprinklers and get everyone. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if she had a few contingencies. Even though I have combed over the school several times already."

Matt blinked. "Is that Stan L-" he began before blinking, "Ah, whatever. I also wouldn't be surprised if this bomb's a decoy. She'd know I could sniff the charges out. The others probably have conventional chemical charges."

"So how do we know that disarming that one won't make her set the rest off?" asked Peter.

"We don't...but I do the next best thing," said Matt, climbing up and opening the top before draining the detonator. "One charge down, the detonator's a damp squib," he said.

"Let's hope we'll get the rest before she notices," said Peter.

* * *

"Oh...they got the water tank bomb," said Lady Nega with disappointment, checking a wrist device.

"Oh, that is a shame. I suppose you'll have surrender to SHIELD custody now," said Gary.

"Oh no. I got more set up all over the place. How was that punch by the way?" said Lady Nega. Gary spat out the mouthful that was in his mouth.

"Oh please, I was joking. That's just too cliche," she said. Gary glared before she said, "Though...given they're not playing along..."

* * *

Meanwhile, Chloe had left the gym and was wandering around the halls. Officially, she was looking for places where the mutagen bombs could be hidden and she really was looking. But a part of her was also looking for a place where she could be alone with Chris...

She walked round the corner to see two jocks in front of some nervous kids. "Urgh...OK, what are you doing? And if you say 'Nothing' or 'just playing', I know that you'll be lying," she said, walking forward, glad her holo-cloak including some hard shoes to explain the clacking of her claws.

"Ease up, babe," said one jock, "It's a party."

"Not the sort of party you're thinking of. Hop it before I throw you out," said Chloe icily.

"I don't know how they do proms over in Australia, but this is how we do it in America," said the other jock.

Chloe raised an eyebrow. These guys were clearly flunking. "Ooookay. Get out," she said, walking forward.

The other jock said, "Ian, she's a teacher, man."

"Nah, she's way too young to be a teacher," said the first jock, evidently Ian.

"I'm one of the people helping here now get lost before I call Principal Stan," snapped Chloe, the raptor in her wanting instead to knock their silly heads off.

"Yeah, sure you are," said Ian.

"I'm betting she got bored with whoever came with her," said the other jock.

"Well, Brian, I think we can keep her entertained," said Ian.

Chloe growled at that, the jocks not looking as her holo flockered for a second, though their victim did. "Erm...I think you should listen," he gibbered.

"I think I might get a more intelligent answer out of you. Why did they drag you here?" asked Chloe.

"Don't you dare say a thi-" began Brian.

Chloe grabbed the thrown punch by the wrist and squeezing unconsciously. "Were they after your money or something?" she asked kindly as Brian yelled in pain, forced him to his knees.

"They wanted my study material for the exams," said the would-be victim.

"Oh...the principal will be interested in that. Run along, I'm going to give them a lesson," said Chloe kindly, letting go of Brian, waiting till he'd gone before turning to Ian and company. "I really hate bullies," she said, adding, "It was a bully that gave me my look." She had planned to turn of the holo-cloak at that, only for the button to be jammed. "Uh, excuse me a moment," said Chloe as she tried to unstick her button.

Ian smirked, leaning on a locker, which began to beep. "The heck?" he said.

"Uh, did someone leave their science project in there?" asked Brian.

Just then, a blue light came out of the locker vents and swept across the hallway. It seemed to flash when it swept over Chloe. A second later, the locker blew off its hinges, drenching the two in glowing green goop. Chloe jumped onto another one to avoid the small puddle. "Guys, two morons called Ian and Brian just set off a charge," she snapped, peering through the slits of the locker she was on to see another, "She's wired the lockers."

"Strange, I thought I searched the lockers," said Stan's voice, "Usually, I'm quite observant when it comes to peculiarities."

She blinked, looking at the orange blob in her vision. "They're cloaked. I can see their power source," she said.

Matt chipped in, "Can you drain them like I did up here?"

Chloe shook her head. "No chance. I'd detonate them all and we'd have a tidal wave," she said, hearing snarling. "I'll...call you back," she said turning in time to see a door shutting down the hall. "Great...Jurassic Park meets High School Musical," she grumbled, slapping her holo-cloak and causing it to finally shut down.

Chloe shook her feathers and flapped her wings a bit. It was probably psychosomatic, but it felt like the holo-cloak pressed down on her feathers when she had it on.

"You need backup?" asked Matt over the line.

"I got this. They got drenched in that stuff the Combine use for medical mutations. Give me five minutes," she said. Then she heard a reptilian hissing sound. "Better make it six," said Chloe.

She turned and tail-whipped a lunging Ian, who was almost completely mutated to a raptor. "It's certainly helped his reflexes," she muttered, turning to see a fully-formed raptor, probably Brian from the rags, stalking out hissing. "Raptors are clearly not pack predators. Screw you, National Geographic," she muttered in a sarcastic tone before the two charged her.

Chloe jumped up and did a split to kick both in the snout. She landed with a small grimace. "Ow, I need to do more stretches," she muttered.

The two raptors were already up, hissing, before chittering to one another and slowly splitting, obviously planning the same again. "I take it back...still idiots," Chloe said, spraying some water from a drinking fountain over the floor. Chloe was a bit concerned she wouldn't get enough water, but the raptors didn't give her a lot of time.

She blasted a bolt into the floor, the two raptors being thrown flying and making hissing moans as she walked forward, instinct making her hiss at them. "Antigen complete," said her wristcomp.

"Take your shots," she hissed, firing the darts into them. As the raptors started changing back, Chloe took the time to make some observations. "Lady NegaMorph could have used a less curable form of mutagen to threaten the school work. She had the time to set up these bombs and yet not fill them with more permanent stuff. She might not be taking this particular scheme that seriously," Chloe remarked to herself.

She carefully opened a few more lockers and realised how wrong she was. Each one had a different payload. She seemed instead to be using...everything. "Just how far is she willing to go for a date night?" asked Chloe.

* * *

"Oh...someone found one. I was saving that for the morning recess tomorrow," said Lady Nega with a mock disappointed voice.

"Megan, you don't need to be this cruel just to have one night," said Gary.

"I told you. My name is not Megan. She's gone," snapped Lady Nega angrily.

"I actually spoke with Falcore earlier. Or I think it was Falcore. He noticed that you've only cried with one eye," said Gary.

"Urgh...Manticora should keep her mouth shut," snarled Lady Nega.

Gary blinked before retuning his brain, "I thought they marker penned that spell out."

"Body swap spell," said Lady Nega, "They actually don't require that much effort in this universe."

"Please change them back. Just thinking about it is giving me a headache. I think she...he...whatever was hitting on me," said Gary.

Lady Nega paused at that, her eyes briefly glowing red. "I thought I made it clear that you were off-limits," she said. Her voice was not raised, but there was a dangerous calm to it.

"They've been living with the wrong hormones for... How long have they been swapped?" asked Gary.

"Nearly a week," said Lady Nega.

Gary stared. "I'm...Falcore really does have good self control..." he said in shock.

Lady Nega sighed and waved a glowing hand. "There...a week was probably a little far anyway," she said.

Falcore's voice was heard yelling, "Thank God, finally!"

"I just hope the psychological damage isn't lasting," said Gary.

"They'll be fine," said Lady Nega, "They may need separation from the others for a while."

"Good. Now please...give this up. Let us help you," said Gary.

"Do I look like I need help?" asked Lady Nega mockingly.

"Yes...yes you do," said Gary sadly.

"Then you don't know me as well as I thought you did. Now then...in a while we'll be the king and queen of this little party," said Lady Nega smugly.

"I'm...not sure that's likely to happen," said Gary.

"Why not?" asked Lady Nega.

"For one thing, we don't even attend this school," said Gary.

"So? I said in my backup emails what I wanted," snapped Lady Nega.

"What backup emails?" asked Gary.

Lady Nega paused before taking into a com, "Falcore, did you send the follow-up messages?"

Falcore said icily, "No...but I did find out that when a manticore's in heat, they're very distracted. Thanks for that by the way..." before he hung up, Lady Nega twitching.

"There is a slurry of images connected to that statement that I don't even want to imagine," said Gary.

"Hold on...I'm busy wiping those images from my mind..." said Lady NegaMorph in a distant weak voice. After a few cleansing breaths, Lady NegaMorph said, "No matter. We're popular enough that the others will surely vote for us anyways."

Gary paused. It was starting to become clear that the Lady NegaMorph personality was starting to lose her grip on reality in favor of this perfect date. "So...there wouldn't be any shame in being runners-up, would there?" asked Gary.

"Second prize?" snarled Lady Nega.

"I mean, just being nominated is honor enough, right?" asked Gary.

"This isn't the Emmys," snapped Lady Nega, "Second place is just a fancy term for losing."

"Soooo..." said Gary nervously.

Lady Nega said, "If I lose, everyone does."

"Can't you make an exception? I mean, the messages weren't delivered after all," said Gary.

"Never," hissed Lady NegaMorph angrily.

"Uh, will you excuse me? I need to use the bathroom," said Gary.

"Hurry back, love," said Lady Nega, suddenly all sweet again as Gary walked off, looking around before spotting Peter and MJ, running over.

"We have a problem..." he said nervously

"How bad a problem?" asked Peter.

"Megan expects me and her to be made king and queen of the prom," said Gary.

"You did tell her she doesn't qualify, right?" said MJ.

Gary nodded. "I don't think she's firing on all brain cells at the moment. She's losing her grip," he said.

"And I'm guessing she's not going to be a gracious loser," said MJ.

"Not even close. We need to find the rest of her bombs before the crowning or find a way to cheat for her," said Gary.

"I think we should focus on the bombs," said MJ.

"Agreed," said Peter, "We've taken care of the one in the water tank and we're dealing with the ones in the lockers. What could be left?" Everyone turned to look at the balloons in the rafters. "Who ordered those things?" asked Peter.

Gary gulped. "Matt, Chloe, Chris...we have a problem," he said into his com.

* * *

"How can the balloons be filled with mutagen and still be hanging up there?" asked Chris as he, Matt, and Chloe headed back towards the gym.

"It's probably in gas form," said Matt, "Probably a little helium mixed in to keep it light."

"Wouldn't that affect the mutagen?" asked Chris.

"Not likely...unless it'll make people lighter than normal and give them squeaky voices," said Chloe.

"Ok...how do we get people out of the gym?" said Chris calmly, the three walking along.

Matt paused before turning on his com, "Principal...is there any way you can start sneaking people out the gym without our 'guest of honour' noticing?" before there was a click and Matt paused, his earpiece falling in half, the group turning to see Taurus, Manticora and Falcore behind them.

"The mistress will not tolerate interference," Falcore said icily, his wing still glowing from his wingblade attack.

However, Chloe noticed that Manticora looked rather disheveled and her eyes looked a bit manic. Taurus's dress uniform was also a bit tattered. "Manticora, what have you been up to?" asked Chloe.

"None of your business!" snapped Manticora, shooting a spine at Chloe she barely dodged.

"Nothing...thank God," said Chris after a sniff.

Falcore said coldly, "Enough. Leave and no harm comes to you. I will not make the offer again."

"Your mistress is about to douse dozens of innocent students with mutagen. You think I can just walk away from that?" asked Matt.

Taurus paused, "I thought her plan was going well."

Falcore pausing before his eyes glowed red for a second and he said, "If that's what she wants."

"That's not what she wants yet," said Chloe quickly.

Manticora tsked and said, "You guys are about to blow it, aren't you? Couldn't keep a girl happy for one evening, could you?"

"Enough. They clearly won't see sense. Kill-" began Falcore, their opponents getting ready before Kala's voice yelled "MATT!" everyone turning to see Kala.

"We were supposed to be dancing. You said you were going to the roof for ten minutes," Kala snapped, stomping forward.

"Kala, we're supposed to be disposing mutagen bombs, remember?" asked Matt.

"No, you were. And you said, and I quote, 'we found one, be back in a minute'," snapped Kala furiously.

Falcore glared and said, "Go away, human." readying a wingblade to even his partner's horror before Kala snapped "SHUT UP, YOU...GIANT...FEATHER DUSTER!" shooting a fireball from her hand at Falcore who was knocked down the corridor.

The others slowly turned back to look at Kala, who was looking at her smoking hand. She soon recovered and cried, "Yes! I've got my fire back!" Taurus and Manticora looked at one another at that, flinching as Kala aimed her fist and yelled "HA!" only for a few fiery sparks to spit out with a noise best spelt as 'Pfrrrt'.

Kala shook her hand, but nothing more came out. "Well, it's better than it was earlier. It'll come back soon," said Kala. She turned to Matt and said, "I'll be leaving the rest of the fighting to you." She started walking away before turning back and saying, "But you still owe me a dance."

"GET THEM!" yelled Falcore, flying down the hall in a rage.

"Kala, get clear," called Matt before shooting plasma blasts at Falcore. Falcore rolled around the blast, knocking Matt flying, his eyes focussed on Kala. "Kala, look out!" yelled Matt as Falcore flew right at her.

Falcore grabbed her at that, his wing ready before she snapped, "Get off of me!" Falcore pausing...a mistake as it turned out as his eyes crossed with an undignified squawk and he fell over, doubled up. Matt, Chris, and Taurus cringed in male sympathy. "Fresh," said Kala, kicking Falcore in the stomach for good measure.

Falcore just made a whine. His ears were hearing Flintwing's voice...though the rest of his body was supplying many painful counter arguments.

"Can you guys keep fighting without him?" asked Chris.

"Sure, I'm good to fight," said Taurus, "Let's just keep it clean."

Taurus rammed him a second later, as Manticora charged at Chloe."I've wanted a shot at you for ages" laughed Manticora, fighting with a mix of martial arts and using her tail to stab.

"You're good," said Chloe as she blocked Manticora's attacks. Then she delivered a powerful kick to Manticora's midsection that knocked her over. "But there's room for improvement," said Chloe.

"Improvement? I'm a diamond belt, you fake. Yeah, Lady NegaMorph told me all about you," sneered Manticora, rolling back onto her feet.

"I wouldn't rely on Lady NegaMorph for accuracy," said Chloe.

"Oh yeah? I'm a freak just cause you wanted my life," sneered Manticora in the air of someone who wasn't gonna believe a word Chloe said, before she tore the door off an empty locker and threw it at Chloe.

"As if I'm actually that petty," said Chloe.

"I don't see why you shouldn't be, considering you're a bigger freak than I am," said Manitcora. Chloe twitched, the voice of the personality Sauron had put in her head hissing angrily. "I mean, least I look cool. You look like a failed extra from Jurassic World," Manticora sneered, hopping out the way of a slash. "It's really surprising you thought you could come to this dance just by putting on a disguise. You have no place among humans."

Chloe hissed, closing her eyes before Queen Dakota opened them. "Insolent INSECT!" she hissed, firing a blast of energy at Manticora before lunging and grabbing her. "Not so cocky now, eh?" she hissed before she shrieked as Manticora, grinning, stabbed her stinger into the reptilian's back, delivering a nice dose of her venom.

"You know, I'm curious to what it does. Even the boss doesn't know," she teased, "Legend says that the sting of the manticore causes instant death. But I hope that's wrong. I hope it'll be slow."

Dakota hissed, the pain pushing her back down and Chloe back out. "Not that easy," she hissed, grabbing Manticora again and sending a full power electrical charge through, Manticora juddering before slumping down unconscious.

"Chloe!" yelled Chris before bashing Taurus into the wall and running to her.

"I'm fine," said Chloe, wincing a little, "Nothing a little TLC couldn't fix."

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" snapped Falcore's voice, the mutate swooping down and grabbing Manticora, slashing his way out a wall with her.

"Oh great. I get to walk...again," muttered Taurus sulkily from behind the shocked couple.

"You're not beating the three of us," said Matt flatly, "I suggest you leave while you have your dignity."

"I think you're counting your victory too early," said Taurus, "Lady NegaMorph has yet to reveal her big party favor."

"What's the favor?" snapped Matt.

Taurus paused. "Nope, I like my brain where it is," he said quickly, smashing his way out the wall, yelling "Peace out, suckers!" as he ran into the night.

"I wonder how many repairs this school gets per year?" asked Chloe conversationally.

"I think it's better not to ask," said Matt.

* * *

"Ok, it's time to reveal the king and queen of the prom," said Principal Stan cheerfully, Gary gulping and Lady NegaMorph looking smug. "Now I'd like to take the time to thank everyone for coming here, even those who have moved on to bigger, better places. It's always good to see a familiar face again," said Stan.

A few people clapped as a light was shone on Peter and MJ for a minute. "And it's my honor and privilege to announce this year's Senior Prom King and Queen are none other than Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson," said Principal Stan.

Lady NegaMorph stared, mouth open as applause went up. "Those little..." she began.

Gary grabbed her arm. "We're junior year," he said in a desperate voice.

"Junior?" snarled Lady NegaMorph, her extra eyes opening.

"We're not senior year yet," said Gary quickly, "Which means we still have a chance-" Just then, there was some applauding.

"They just announced the Junior King and Queen, didn't they?" asked Lady Nega.

"Yes," said Gary.

"And it wasn't us, was it?" she asked.

"Er...no," he said.

Lady NegaMorph growled, her form flickering before she snapped into her comm. "Flintwing, Akhlut, are you in position?"

"We were wondering when you were going to let us get started," said Flintwing's voice.

"Megan, what are you doing?" asked Gary.

"I told you, I'm not Megan," said Lady Nega as her skin turned grey and her hair became tentacles, "I am Lady NegaMorph."

On cue, two shapes smashed through the windows, causing panic among the people there. "Oh don't leave now," said the hippogriff, "The party's just about to really start."

This more or less caused everyone to panic, some running for the door where the second shape blocked the way, walking into view. "Like the lady said," it said.

By this point, Lady NegaMorph had fully shed her human disguise. "So what do you say, boys and girls? How about we really have fun and pop a few balloons?" she asked.

Gary yelled, "NO! Megan, this is enough!" finally losing it.

"It's not even close," said Lady Nega, firing a blast that knocked him into a wall.

* * *

Meanwhile, Peter and MJ had ducked around the stage. "It looks like it's time for you to spring into action," said Stan, who was also back there.

"You know, Stan, you didn't have to make us the Senior King and Queen," said Peter.

"Didn't have to," said Stan, "Seems a lot of people missed you two being together."

"I wish I could have had the dance, but we've got work to do," said MJ. Then her dress and sleeves started spreading over the rest of her body before red coloring appeared and she was wearing her Spider-Woman suit.

"Wait, your dress was your symbiote the whole time?" asked Peter.

"Saves money and time, doesn't it?" asked Spider-Woman.

"Then what are you-" started Peter.

Stan said wisely, "Peter, sometimes it's best to let a lady keep her secrets."

"Ok, fine," said Peter as he started taking off his tux. Unsurprisingly, his Spider-Man suit was under it. "We need to get the other kids out of here before Lady NegaMorph starts releasing the mutagen," he said.

"You two can take the witch and the hippogriff," said Stan, "I'll deal with that big dolphin-dog."

"His name's Akhlut," said Spider-Man after he put his mask on, "It's an Inuit legend, apparently."

"Inuit legend?" asked Stan before rubbing his chin, "Hmm...why didn't I think of that?"

* * *

"Ok, who wants to go first on the DNA roulette?" laughed Lady NegaMorph happily.

"Mistress, we can't be mutated again, right?" asked Flintwing, looking up at the balloons.

"Of course not," said Lady Nega, gently putting her hood up when Flintwing turned her back.

"Megan, this has gone far enough," said Gary, getting back up, his eyes glowing.

"You already said that," said Lady Nega in a bored tone.

"And this time I mean it. I'll...I'll fight you if I have to," said Gary angrily.

Lady Nega looked before throwing back her head in laughter. "Get real, Gaheris. I have a variety of powers, magical, alien, and draconic. You couldn't even lay a finger on me," she said.

"Then why haven't you used them on me?" said Gary angrily.

"I'm giving you a chance to realize what you think you're doing," said Lady Nega.

"I've been giving the same chance for over two years," snapped Gary, "And if talking you down hasn't worked, well, maybe I really do need to act."

Lady Nega glared raising her hand as if to blast, her hand shaking before she snapped, "Flintwing, Aklet, rip him apart."

"It's Akh-" started Akhlut before a mop smacked him in the face. He paused before he said in a muffled voice, "Who...did...that?"

Flintwing flew at Gary with glowing angry eyes and talons out. Just then, a pair of weblines shot out, grabbed her hooves, and robbed her of her forward momentum. She fell with a 'oof', looking over her shoulder. "Who did that?" she snarled, before she heard a second growl from Gary's direction, turning to look at him in time for a grey fist to knock her head over tail across the gym

Flintwing rolled to a stop before shaking her head. "Cheap shot!" she snapped. Then more webbing started pinning her to the floor.

"I hope that fire retardant webbing I made works," said Spider-Man as he tried to wrap up Flintwing.

Flintwing's eyes began to glow at that, the web beginning to boil. Spider-Woman said, "Looks like it needs work still." before Flintwing pulled herself free.

"First you, then Gary," she snapped, yelling "YOU KNOW HOW LONG PREENING THESE FEATHERS TAKES?!"

"Less time if you just burn what's stuck in them?" asked Spider-Man.

"I still have to brush out the ashes!" snapped Flintwing before shooting fire at them.

Lady NegaMorph smirked, pulling out a BB pistol, aiming at one of the balloons. "Time for some fun," she muttered, firing. Greenish gas was released from the balloon, but it wasn't lowering to breathing level yet. "Too much helium," muttered Lady NegaMorph.

"Told you!" called Akhlut.

Lady Nega shot another balloon and snapped, "Shut it!"

Gary, in gargoyle form, walked up to Lady Nega and said, "This ends now. You have to stop."

"Or what? You'll hit me?" asked Lady Nega mockingly, "We both know you were raised to chivalrously to even consider striking a lady."

Gary hung his head at that, Lady NegaMorph laughing before Gary lifted his head to reveal glowing white eyes...and punched her, sending her flying. "You...you hit me…" she said in shock, more surprised then hurt.

"Name aside, you are no lady," said Gary.

"I...I..." said Lady Nega before her eyes turned reptilian. "I'll tear your wings off!" she roared.

"And that's the secondary reason I was reluctant to strike back," said Gary.

Lady Nega, now looking more draconic, roared, swiping and unfortunately for her plan, knocking a hole in the wall...a hole the students decided was a perfect emergency exit.

"Everyone head for the exit in an orderly fashion," called Spider-Woman. There was a pause before the pause was broken as Flintwing was thrown through some doors. This seemed to snap them out of it, the students running for the 'exit'. "Orderly! Don't jam the exit!" called Spider-Woman.

Flintwing got to her feet before looking up at Spider-Woman's back before spitting a fireball. It missed but if there was one thing symbiotes hated, it was fire.

"Er, Spider-Man, I'm having a little trouble getting close," said Spider-Woman. Her tentacles kept writhing away from the fire attacks.

"Maybe we can stop that fire," said Spider-Man, looking up at the sprinklers thoughtfully.

He fired a web shot at the back of Flintwing's head, the splicer turning with a shriek. "WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THE FEATHERS?" she snapped, spitting multiple fireballs at Spider-Man.

"You really shouldn't be throwing fire indoors," said Spider-Man, dodging around the blasts.

"Why not?!" snapped Flintwing.

Just then, the fire alarm went off. "Because of that," said Spider-Man before the sprinklers started spraying. Flintwing quickly got drenched, but she happened to be standing under a cloud of mutagen gas and the water was bringing the gas down to her. Even Lady Nega paused at that, her eyes widening before she flew up and out the window through a gap in the gas as Flintwing began to cough.

"Uh, is it me or she starting to molt?" asked Spider-Woman, noticing red feathers were falling off of Flintwing.

"Looks like she's shedding too," said Spider-Man as fur was falling over her lower half. In fact, it looks like her wings and tail were shrinking as well.

"What are you doing to me?" yelled Flintwing as her talons were losing their edge. Happily, Flintwing had some clothing on to everyone's relief. "No...NO...WHAT DID YOU DO?" Flintwing screamed, looking at her hands, her eyes still avian, and her nails still having a...talon-y look.

"Wait, that mutagen's an antidote to her mutation?" asked Spider-Man.

"Huh, what are the odds?" asked Spider-Woman.

"Wait, you mean if I can get one of those balloons," started Akhlut only to be whacked with the mop again, "Would you stop that?!"

A roar above got everyone's attention, Lady Nega in her dragon form landing, holding Gary. "I'd like my minion back," she snarled, squeezing Gary.

"Mistress, get me out of here!" shrieked Flintwing, having to hold her top up. She wasn't as broad-shouldered as she was a few minutes ago.

"Urgh...Manticora must have found the emergency cure by accident," muttered Lady Nega, adding, "Now we have to start again. Now then Spider-Man, do you hand Flintwing over or do I see how much I have to squeeze before my ex pops?" Gary yelled in pain as she squeezed again.

"You wouldn't. You love him too much to hurt him," said Spider-Man.

"Ha! And how would you know about love, Spider-Loner?" laughed Lady Nega.

"Because he has me!" snapped Spider-Woman before extending her arm, her hand morphing into a cudgel which hit Lady Nega in the face.

"Ow...really? Can I at least finish my menace?" snapped Lady Nega before Matt and Kala ran into view, Kala pausing in horror. Flintwing was, apart from the claws and eyes, her doppelganger. Matt however looked between her and back at Lady Nega.

"I wasn't sure if I recognized her before, but now..." growled Matt before shooting plasma fire at Lady Nega.

Lady Nega screamed, throwing Gary aside to throw up a shield, Matt sending another blast. "You spoiled BRAT!" roared Matt, his eyes going red. "It was bad enough you grabbed the local version of me, but Kala," he began, Lady Nega glaring before trying to blast Matt, so she could grab Flintwing.

"Thought I couldn't cross that line? Bet you thought I couldn't smash Gary either," sneered Lady Nega before raising a fist over Gary. But before she could bring it down, it froze in place and started shaking.

She looked at it with a glare, grabbing it. "No...I'm in control…" she snapped, before glaring as the rogue hand slowly twisted to face her and extended a middle finger, before trying to poke her eyes.

"Well, this is interesting," said Spider-Man, "What exactly are we watching?"

"You remember how I said that Shar-Virks have a split personality?" asked Matt, "It looks like the real Megan is finally fighting back."

Lady Nega covered her eyes. "Hah...try hitting me now," she said, before the rogue hand grabbed her horns and bashed her against a wall. "I call...foul," she groaned.

"As much as I'd like to root for her, this probably won't last long," said Matt.

Indeed, Lady Nega was clearly getting control. "Urgh...much better," she said, before her eyes glowed with black light.

"HIT THE DECK!" yelled Matt before a blastwave of black magic knocked everyone over, Lady Nega grabbing Flintwing. "Now, you are coming with me. We need to get you all fixed up," she said.

"Wait, no, no, this isn't how I'm supposed to be," said Flintwing.

"Darn right, you're not," said Lady Nega.

Flintwing turned to look around in panic before she said "Matt?" in horror before she was grabbed.

"Well, heroes, you've spoiled my night. But you've at least given me new ideas," said Lady Nega, "Akhlut, stop getting swabbed in the face and get over here."

"I can't fight a guy with a mop-" began Akhlut.

"He's just an old- Oh, wait, is that him?" asked Lady Nega, "Huh, now that is bizarre. Ok, just get over here, leave him alone."

"But you said-" said Akhlut before Lady Nega grabbed him too.

"WE DO NOT HURT HIM!" before she smiled at Stan. "I'm so sorry...love your cartoons." before taking off.

Matt paused before he said, "What the hell was that last part?"

"I guess it was just my remarkable personality," said Stan, "Though I'm not one to boast."

"That...was me...Megan..." said Kala in horror.

"Yeah, she got the local me and Chloe too," said Matt, "I don't think she got Chris though."

"You don't think...Taurus..." started Kala.

"Oh dear God in heaven, no," said Matt, "Not even considering that."

Chloe said, "Plus I checked. He's still serving in the US military here. He's over in a NATO base in Europe."

"So, what's she going to do with her now?" asked Spider-Woman.

"Probably not as pleasant as her first mutation," said Matt.

* * *

Falcore pushed the doors open to Lady Nega's lab. "Lady NegaMorph, we will have words," he snarled.

"Drop the Thor impression, I'm not in the mood," said Lady Nega, sounding rather drained.

"I saw you bring her in. You are going to let her go or so help me you will not leave this room alive," snarled Falcore, panning around for where Flintwing might be.

Lady Nega glared, "Take her and get out...but if she reveals our location..."

"She won't," said Falcore.

Lady Nega waved to someone and a scared humanized Flintwing coming out. "Matt? Is that you?" she asked.

"Yes and no," said Falcore.

"She said those other people did this to you," Flintwing said, waking forward.

Falcore glared at Lady Nega who smirked briefly. "Yes...mostly. All that matters is you're safe here, Sara," he said, tenderly.

But you're a..." said Sara.

"Awesome?" joked Falcore, adding "Cute and Fluffy?" causing Sara to chuckle.

Lady Nega meanwhile glared, reaching for an injector gun, loaded with a glowing red serum.. She lifted it and aimed at Sara's back, before, to her, she saw her and Gary hugging happily. "Urgh...she's a bad influence," she muttered, putting the gun back down, "I can always turn her another day," she muttered.

* * *

"So...we cancelled PE forever," said Matt, the group outside the gym on the street while a SHIELD hazmat team got rid of the gas inside.

"We almost lasted the night without causing property damage," said Chloe, her and Matt fistbumping.

Matt said, "New record...maybe one day we'll last the day?"

Peter and MJ had moved over to a quieter place. "So, that thing you said earlier, did you mean it?" asked Peter.

"Which thing?" asked MJ.

"The thing about me having you?" asked Peter.

"Well, I was hoping that I had dropped enough hints for you to pick up," said MJ.

"Uh, well, it's just that we're..." said Peter.

"Superheroes?" asked MJ.

"I was going to say old friends," said Peter, "I mean, we never tried anything after we kissed when we were 12."

"So what if we kissed now?" asked MJ.

"What, but, we..." sputtered Peter.

Mary Jane just wrapped her arms around his shoulders and said, "Peter, I think we're grown up enough to know what's between us. For once, stop doubting yourself and enjoy the moment."

"I...I guess so," said Peter before leaning down to her face.

Matt and Kala walked around the corner at that, arms around one another before pausing, unnoticed as the couple kissed. "Let's find somewhere more quiet..." said Matt in a low voice, lifting up Kala and taking off silently.

Stan watched before saying, "Stan, old boy, looks like your work here is done... Except now I'm gonna have to get the gym rebuilt again. When is Fury going to make that thing more solid?"

In memory of Stan Lee

1922-2018

'Nuff Said

* * *

I wanted to make a special chapter that focused on Peter and Mary Jane's relationship. They're my preferred couple, especially in the fourth season. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one missing their relationship. And it seemed to be a good opportunity to say farewell to Stan, one of the greatest writers of this century and the last.

Anyways, there's gonna be another hiatus while we're getting things ready for the next few chapters. Keep an eye out for new chapters and please review.


	16. AlphaGamma

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 16: Alpha/Gamma**

New York has its fair share of villains...be it Doom holed up in his embassy whenever he was in the country, the Wrecking Crew...well...wrecking and your various random villains. Then you got the weird ones...

* * *

"Come back here you little french jack-in-the-box!" roared Matt, flying after a villain known as Batrok the Leaper. It had seemed so easy, his superpower was jumping. But as he, Gary, who was finally allowed out to help out, and Chloe were finding out, he was good at it. Chloe and Gary had already collided once trying to grab the pest.

"You know, he's an insulting stereotype of my home country, but I have to admire his fighting style," said Gary, "I may have to learn that myself."

"No way, you'd concuss yourself in anywhere but the launch bays," said Matt before he said, "I'll go left. Chloe, you go right. Gary, sweep him towards us."

"Very well," said Gary before flying up.

Chloe nodded flying faster. Her jaw still hurt where she and Gary had headbutted. "Ok...grab the jerk," she muttered, keeping pace before spasming as a stabbing pain shot up her spine, forcing her down onto a rooftop.

However, Matt hadn't seen that yet. "Ok, Chloe, get ready," he called. Chloe nodded, taking out an injector gun when Matt wasn't looking and shooting it into her arm. Matt didn't need to know about this…

Batrok jumped into view, Gary on his tail. Matt grinned "Ok...one...two..." he said, Chloe's spine aching again and forcing her to her hands and knees as he yelled "NOW!" He shot out at Batrok immediately, who chose that moment to dodge aside. "Dammit, Chloe!" Matt snapped before turning back to see a jumbotron headed for him. "Oh nuts," muttered Matt, just before impact.

There was a loud crack as yet another Daily Bugle jumbotron was broken. It didn't really feel that good for Matt either. Gary paused "M...Lazard...are you well?" he said in horror, hovering in place.

Matt lifted his head to show a goofy grin and a missing fang. "I'll take double jeopardy, Bob where the concussions get really hard." before he flopped back down again, Batrok's laughter heard as he bounced away.

Gary sighed and said, "Dakota, this is really getting tiresome." There was a long unresponsive pause before Gary asked, "Dakota?" He spun around before spotting her, sprawled on the rooftop. "MATT!" he called.

* * *

"How long have you been blacking out?" snapped Matt, the trio in the Triskelion's medical bay.

"Only about a day after the prom," said Dakota, "Really, it's not that bad."

"You've been blacking out for a week and it's nothing," said Matt icily, before saying, "I hope it's nothing. You should have told us."

Dr. Connors walked over and said, "According to the test results, there is a considerable amount of venom in Chloe's system. Specifically venom from the black fattail scorpion." "Good...how long will it take to get some anti-venom in her?" asked Matt, sighing with relief.

"That's the troubling thing," said Dr. Connors, "We have an anti-venom on hand, but when it was administered, it only eliminated a small part of the venom before it bounced back. I'd almost say the venom was alive. I'm assuming she wasn't stung by an ordinary scorpion." "No, one of Megan's...staff did it," said Matt coldly.

"Ah, that would explain it," said Dr. Connors, "Some form of enhanced genetic engineering."

"It's simpler to assume it's magic," said Gary, "Manticora may not have been given elemental powers like the others, but that's not to say that Megan gave her some extra abilities than just physical ones."

Chloe grumbled, "So...is there anything that can be done or am I going to that big Jurassic Park in the sky?"

Matt rounded on her, "You are not going anywhere."

"Well, I suppose if we could find a unicorn..." started Gary.

"We are not doing that again," said Matt flatly.

"Surely you brought something," said Gary.

Matt paused. "There might be something at our camp," he said.

"I don't think that's going to help," said Chloe, "I've been using it to keep it under control and it's not working so well anymore."

"Connors, there's gonna be something. I read something about gamma radiation treatment on mana poisons once in the NSC..." said Matt, looking at Connors in desperation.

"Are you out of your mind?" asked Connors, "Granted, radiation treatment can help with particularly bad poisonings. But gamma radiation... I don't think I need to tell you what that can cause."

"Big green and anger issues?" said Chloe with a weak laugh.

"Not as many people fall victim to that as you might think," said Connors, "Often enough, it's just radiation poisoning."

"It was only experimental when I last saw it, but it worked," said Matt, looking at Chloe, "That said, in this reality and knowing my luck… I'd like to take her back to my camp. Try some of the medical tech there."

"There are too many uncertain variables," said Dr. Connors, "She's not even human for starters."

"Ok, we're going that route. How's that Lizard problem holding up?" snapped Matt, poking Connors in the chest.

"Hey guys, doesn't the patient get a say in her treatment?" asked Chloe in an annoyed tone, "This damn well hurts and I would prefer to not be killed by tail pokes."

"There you go. Patient's consent," said Matt.

Dr. Connors sighed and said, "Speaking from experience, experimental treatment will end in tragedy."

"So...what's the first treatment?" asked Chloe.

Matt said, "Well...it's pretty old tech..."

* * *

"I WANT A SECOND OPINION!" screamed Chloe, looking at the large rejuvenation emitter...which for some reason, the designer had decided should look like a laser cannon from James Bond.

"Oh relax," said Matt, "It's perfectly safe." A panel partially fell off with a loud rusty squeak.

"Maybe we should do a bit of maintenance first," said Chris.

Gary, reading the instructions as it began to power up, said, "Warning...uses UV radiation...may cause sunburn." before there was a blue flash and Chloe screamed angrily.

* * *

"That's not medical equipment, that's a death trap!" yelled Chloe, looking at the glowing green pool.

"It says it works. It also says it cures sunbu-" began Matt before Chloe swan dived into it.

Chris, looking at some papers said, "Hey...when was Nullspace date 1987?"

* * *

By now the tests were attracting an audience, and the natural betting pool that appears whenever an experiment was within 20 light years. "Ok, the last one turned her green. What do you think this one will?" said Zira happily.

Chloe meanwhile, was indeed green...fluorescent green. "Ok...and what does this one do?" she growled.

"You just take the pills..." said Matt, holding up a blue pill.

Chloe glared, before swallowing it. "Ok...how long till..." she said, pausing...her voice had come out sounding like she'd been locked in a room full of helium. "Oh, ha, ha, very funny, this had better not- Am I growing taller?" asked Chloe.

"Uh, not really," said Matt as Chloe's feet were lifting off the ground. Matt looked at the bottle, Zira's laughter heard from the rafters. "Oh...wrong pill," he said nervously. The resulting lightning bolt was powerful enough to blow out every computer on the floor...

* * *

Sara looked around nervously, eating her breakfast. It was...unnerving to be so near the other splicers, most of them looking at her suspiciously. That was happily the limit, Falcore never too far away. She could have just left. Obviously Lady NegaMorph was missing a few screws. But she couldn't leave Matt, not after finding him again. And also...the idea of powers was rather enticing…

"Penny for your thoughts?" asked Falcore, snapping her to her senses.

"I'm ok. Just thinking about all this. It's a lot to take in," she said, before looking down to see a ticket in Falcore's talons.

"First class...the sooner you are safely out of this city, then the sooner I can have a night's sleep," he said kindly.

"Do I really have to leave?" asked Sara, "I just found you again."

"You'll know exactly where I am...and you'll be away from all this." said Falcore.

Manticora laughed, "Yeah...run on home." Falcore glared at her.

"Maybe I don't want to leave," said Sara, "You guys are getting awesome bodies and superpowers. Why wouldn't I want to be a part of that?"

Falcore said darkly, "You do not want this life."

Sara paused at that. "What about you?" she asked.

Falcore said, "I've been too long like this. You got lucky."

"Yeah..." said Sara slowly. _'Lucky enough to choose my next transformation,'_ she thought.

"Sara, promise me you will leave tonight," said Falcore sternly...and when a bird of prey looks stern, you know about it.

"Of course, dear, whatever you say," said Sara.

Falcore nodded, smiling before walking away. Sara paused before Taurus said, "Man, he's usually good at spotting bullshit."

Sara glaring before walking off, towards Lady NegaMorph's was odd that she had been so scared of the place when she was brought back. But now she wanted to be inside it more than anything. She sneaked forward. It was a simple plan: find another serum, and she and Falcore could ditch this loser of a supervillain. She was about to open the door when she heard voices within...

* * *

"You said you'd make use of the technology...and provide results. So far we are not impressed," said a draconic creature, looming over Lady Nega, who for the first time anyone would notice was looking worried. "We are wondering if you will provide results at all other then showing them failing."

"You've seen that I'm made a lot with what I have. Manticora, in particular, is probably my finest-" started Lady NegaMorph.

"Yes, yes, you've been making strong minions with simple Earth animal DNA," said the draconic creature, waving a hand dismissively, "The real question is why you haven't been using the DNA _we_ have provided you."

"Yes, that will lend so well. I'll make it _less_ conspicuous by hanging a neon sign on my splicers saying 'illegal tech, NSC, please shoot me'," snapped Lady NegaMorph before yelping as the creature picked her up by the throat.

"We paid you to test what _we_ provided," he said coldly, before dropping her. "It's one thing if you were just hoarding these samples and planning on selling them yourself," said the creature, "But just letting them collect dust? That's just insulting."

"They...don't exist...here," coughed Lady Nega.

The creature said angrily, "And my employers don't care." before he sniffed the air. "That said, you may get a chance. Please prep our latest sample," he said, walking towards the door and punching a fist through it, smashing the door and pulling a terrified Sara in. "How nice, a volunteer all ready," he sneered.

"Now just a moment," said Lady NegaMorph, "That one is off-limits."

"She's seen me. My employer wants no connection. Oh well," said the creature, reaching for Sara's neck.

"Wait, wait, don't I at least get to know what you're going to do with me?" asked Sara.

"Does it matter? You're 'off-limits'." sneered the creature. Lady Nega snapping "WAIT!" before she said "Maybe...I was hasty. Miss Triseptus, I'm going to guess you came here to volunteer?" mouthing 'Say yes, dammit. He's going to kill you.'  
"Well, actually, I was wondering what kind of superpowers you could give me," said Sara honestly.

Lady Nega actually looked surprised, the creature grinning. "Well...a volunteer indeed," he said, dropping her and walking over to a case, opening it to show a row of three injector guns. "Our latest batch," he said, taking out the one loaded with a sky blue liquid.

"What's in that one?" asked Sara.

The creature clicked something on the device of his wrist and it projected a hologram of a blue bird with a white chest and a very long tail. "This specimen is considered a legend on its homeworld," said the creature, "It has power over ice and has very remarkable-"

"Will I be anthro?" Sara interrupted.

"Well, yes, though-" started the creature.

"Then what are we waiting for? Splice me up!" said Sara excitedly, "But first, I have a few modifications to the idea." She did a rough sketch on a piece of paper and handed it to the creature.

The creature looked at the drawing and raised an eye ridge. "Yes, we can do those modifications," said the creature, which evidently called a 'splitter', "But I'm doubtful about the necessity of it."

"Clearly you don't know how women think," said Sara, "This is something every girl wants."

The splitter turned to Lady NegaMorph with a questioning look. "I don't need to enhance myself, but I can't say the same for everyone. Let's not forget, this is a college girl we're talking about."

The splitter shrugged and said, "It's her choice. Besides, you're the one doing this, not me."

"Of course I am," muttered Lady Nega. It was probably for the best. The splitter wouldn't really know what Sara was asking for. Besides, it wasn't really rocket science to make those changes.

After modifying the serum, Lady Nega said to Sara, "Just so you know, undoing these changes won't be as easy as the last ones."

"Why would I want them undone?" asked Sara.

"It's so rare to find such willing volunteers," remarked the splitter.

"You haven't really been on Earth's internet, have you?" asked Sara before wincing as Lady Nega injected the blue serum into her.

"So...when does this start working?" asked Sara, before Falcore, with Taurus and Manticora ran in.

"Mistress we heard a..." he began before seeing Sara with the injector in her arm.

"Oh, Falcore, you're just in time," said Sara, "I wanted you to see this."

"What have you done?" said Falcore.

Sara grinned, "Made it so we can look after each other..."

* * *

Meanwhile, on the edge of the system, a small craft warped in, with an interesting lifeform on board. "Must...kill...Matt..." snarled NegaMorph, his eye twitching. It hadn't taken long to realise where they'd gone. Morph couldn't kep secrets any worse if he was wearing a billboard with the secret written on it. _Then_ he'd found out about the time dilation…

He had no idea how much of a head start Matt had on him. More importantly, he had no idea how long Megan has been here. Hadn't Matt been worrying about her at all while they were playing with nanites? "Requested timeline scan complete. One hit found for subject: Megan Roph," said the computer.

"It's about time!" snapped NegaMorph.

"Reference: SHIELD database. Pseudonym: Lady NegaMorph. Status: Criminal. Time active: 2 Solar cycles," said the computer calmly, news snippets showing. NegaMorph saw pictures of Megan, looking a little older, as a different version of her hybrid form. He also saw plenty of pictures of her robbing banks, attacking people, and fighting superheroes.

"Current status: Dangerous...possible access to offworld mutagens," said the computer, a recent headshot of what was probably Matt fighting some sort of falcon man. "Caution...ship detected in high orbit," NegaMorph looking at another scanner to see a splitter ship hovering behind the moon.

"Them now? I have no time for that!" snapped NegaMorph.

"Incoming transmission," said the computer, a splitter's face appearing. "Unidentified ship. Alter your course, you are interfering with a Consortium operation."

"Smeg off, you refugee from a tapestry!" snapped NegaMorph, "I've got very personal business down there!"

"You are outgunned. Cease your approach or you will be fired upon," said the splitter calmly, adding, "This is your last warning."

"Go find a knight and get lanced where the sun don't shine!" snapped NegaMorph.

"Warning...splitter ship charging disruptors," said the computer.

"Matt, you better still have a working ship. I'll be taking its keys from your mangled corpse," snarled NegaMorph. A few seconds later, the engines on NegaMorph's ship were blasted out of existence, sending him spiralling down to the blue planet below.

* * *

Chloe wasn't really getting better with this treatments. And neither was her temper. Matt was trying to find another way to treat her, which Chloe wouldn't thrash him over if it didn't work. He'd decided to test some of the cures on the computer via sim. "Simulation 49: Gene therapy has failed...Venom survives via sticking to cell membranes. Subject deceased," said the computer, Matt slamming the controls.

"Commander, if I may. There are several decommissioned facilities on planet. At least one is active and has full reality shielding," the computer said, adding, "I can link to its main transmat...if you stop hitting my consoles."

"Would it even have the equipment we need?" asked Matt dourly.

"It was the original test site for gamma treatment. The medical bay has a class 16 reality field to avoid unwanted mutations and has a 97.4% success rate. When the outpost was shut down, there was no time to remove the equipment," said the computer.

Matt thought it over and said, "Well, it's not like we've had any success here. We might as well try there. So...where is it?" A map appeared on the screen. "Oh crap..." he muttered.

* * *

"Any landing you can walk away from..." rasped NegaMorph, slithering out from the wreckage, reforming and banging the side of his head till his eyeballs stopped being crossed. A clunk from the ship got his attention at that.  
NegaMorph tore open the side of the wreck and soon spotted a storage compartment. He opened its door and white goo spilled out and puddled on the floor. Eventually, four eyes appeared in it and looked at him. "Hi, NegaMorph," said Morph.

"Morph...I...but...I locked the ship. I told nobody I was going. HOW?" NegaMorph managed.

Morph said, "I got lost looking for the canteen."

NegaMorph making a few gurgling noises as his brain failed to comprehend the sheer ridiculousness of that comment. "I...ow...that made my brain hurt. Fine, you can help. We're here to get Megan."

Morph said, "And Gary?"

NegaMorph paused before saying, "Ok, him too."

"And Weirdwolf?" asked Morph.

"Who? Oh, yeah, the dracowolf," said NegaMorph.

"See? You'd have forgotten them without me," said Morph happily.

NegaMorph said darkly, "Yes...forgot."

* * *

"All the way up there?" asked Chloe incredulously.

"It has to be isolated," said Matt, "Not to mention pretty far from any settlements."

"Matt, do I look like I'm built for ice and snow?" asked Chloe, spreading her dinosaur wings for emphasis.

"Tough cheese. It won't be a picnic for me either," snapped Matt, pointing at her, "You need your treatment yesterday."  
"Almost literally," said Kala, "That venom's getting stronger. If we don't burn it out, it is going to kill you."

"So you're gonna go to the arctic if I have to drag you there," snapped Matt.

"The Ice Age is what killed off the last of the dinosaurs, you know," said Chloe flatly.

"That's complete baloney and you know it," said Matt.

Chloe clamped her claws into the wall. "I am not taking a chance," she snapped, before yelping as Matt began to drag her along, Chris grabbing her other arm and helping. "Et tu?" snapped Chloe.

Chris sighed. "I don't want you to die," he said finally.

"Well, ok, if you insist," said Chloe.

"What?!" snapped Matt, "I've been explaining why you need to go for ten minutes but you only agree when Chris says you have to go?!"

"His idea of 'for my own good' is better than yours," said Chloe.

"Burrrrn..." said Zira from the roof happily, before jumping down. "I'm coming too," she said in a final sort of voice.

"You know there's no plants up there," said Kala.

"How many of you have lived in a gamma reactor for years?" asked Zira.

"Point to you, let's go," said Matt with a sigh, the group walking into a transmat room and vanishing, just as the alarm went off, NegaMorph appearing out a shadow portal with a cheerful Morph in tow.

"MATT, I'M GONNA-where the hell is he?" he roared, pausing in confusion.

"I dunno. Did we miss them?" asked Morph.

"There, a transmat," snapped NegaMorph, stomping over before stepping on something that clicked, a small note floating down.

NegaMorph snatched the note out of the air and read it. 'Dear intruder, Doombot or other idiot...prepare to be two dimensional...' it read in Matt's handwriting.

"Oh no," muttered NegaMorph before the walls slammed into him a few times before stopping.

"Oooh...you ok?" called Morph, a faint 'eeeeeeee' heard from NegaMorph.

* * *

The base had sat in the arctic for years, the systems powered down on stand-by, ice formed all over the main transmat room, the only entrance. "Incoming transmat...access codes verified...powering up systems...stand by..." said a calm male voice, lights coming on, lasers burning away ice from controls as the transmat lit up.

As soon as the ice was cleared away, the arriving group appeared on the transmat. "Did that seem to take longer than usual?" asked Kala.

"Sorta, but it's hard to-" started Matt.

"Holy smeg, it's cold!" yelled Chloe, wrapping her wings around her body.

"Please stand by...life support will engage soon. Please state your intentions. I cannot verify that you have not been coerced," said the computer, several cannons folding down from the ceiling.

"We need to use the gamma radiation treatment," said Chris, "She has a venom that cannot be eliminated otherwise."

A blue light shone over Chloe at that before she blinked and teleported away. "76% DNA degradation confirmed...target teleported to main bay...please proceed to observation," said the computer.

"I get the feeling Chloe isn't going to be happy with us when we get there," said Matt.

* * *

The main base itself was far larger than expected. Secure wards could be seen everywhere, apparently geared to hold things from the inside. Blaster holes were pitted into the walls and, when they passed engineering, they saw what might be why. A huge green glowing column, pulsing gently...a sleeping giant slowly waking up.

"That gamma reactor is dirty," said Zira with concern.

"Well, I wouldn't have expected it to have been dusted much when no one's been here in years," said Kala.

"No, she means it's leaking," said Matt grimly, peering down to see medical beds, with straps near it. "I vote we leave some C-12 when we leave," he said grimly before walking on.

Chris said with concern, "That thing's powering up. It's better than a flare."

Matt said, "Nobody's looking for this place..."

* * *

Gamma Base

Vista Verde, New Mexico

The headquarters for the Agents of SMASH has been quiet for quite some time. Since the Incredible Hulk has been working with the Avengers almost full-time, the Smashers have drifted off to do their own things. But that didn't mean there wasn't someone running the base.

The base had once been local headquarters for the Hulkbusters, run by General 'Thunderbolt' Ross. Technically he still was stationed there, though under a different name. Red Hulk grumbled, his only company being Devil Dinosaur, who for obvious reasons couldn't really go out and about...except to the Savage Land.

Devil Dinosaur looked at him before licking Red Hulk and sticking his snout into the food bowl. "Worth a try," muttered Red Hulk darkly, wiping the slobber off, before the emergency lights came on, an old klaxon sounding. It was a specific alert that Red Hulk hadn't heard since he was human. It was the old gamma sensors and something was causing them to go haywire.

"Something's really glowing green out there," said Red Hulk, "It better not be the Leader again." He ran to the old control room, the screen already lighting up. The alert was coming from one of the few remaining Hulkbuster satellites...and Banner had always wondered how his men had kept finding him so fast. The scan was focussed on what looked like an ice field in the north pole, the HUD highlighting a huge signal under the ice.

"Either the Leader's trying to melt the ice caps or Santa Claus has built a new factory," said Red Hulk. The live feed altered at that, the words 'Incoming projectile' flashing as a glowing orange orb shot up from the target, filling the screen just before the signal was lost. "Looks like the Leader just put himself on the Naughty list," said Red Hulk, "Devil, wanna go hunting?"

Devil Dinosaur looked up at that, eyes wide. He'd been watching the screen and he may have been an animal but he'd seen ice and snow before. He turned and ran off into the base.

"Oh sure, _now_ you wanna go in," said Red Hulk. He looked over at the replay from the satellite. Normally he'd go in, cause some destruction, get the job done way better than Big Green. But something made him hesitate, perhaps the only thing that could...a base visible on the edge of the map.

"I may be a one-man army now, but a general's nothing without his troops," said Red Hulk.

* * *

"Hey there, Hulk fans. I know it's been a while since I last posted an episode, but we're back. Red actually called as much of us back together for a trip up north. Something set off Gamma Base's alarms, a big something," said A-Bomb into the hover-cam, the group in the gang's Jump Jet.

"It had to be up where it's cold," said She-Hulk with annoyance, "Why can't it ever be on a tropical island?"

"I don't care if it's in the middle of a volcano. It's less than 10 miles from Betty's research camp," snapped Red.

"Uh, wouldn't she have noticed that?" asked A-Bomb.

"The old Gamma Base satellites were designed to track people like us. Anything else wouldn't penetrate the ice," said Red, Hulk glaring. He had similar feelings to Red and could understand. If the Leader was on Bettys doorstep…  
"You know, I have to ask. How do we know for sure it's the Leader? It could be something else," said A-Bomb.

"What else could give off that much gamma radiation?" asked She-Hulk.

"Uh...gamma meteorite?" suggested A-Bomb.

"No...we've seen what that can do," said Hulk.

"Only other thing could be a gamma reactor, but for the signal size I saw..." said Red before the jet shook, the comm beeping before being triggered remotely.

"Unidentified aircraft, you have entered a restricted zone. Alter your course by 62 degrees due west or lethal force will be applied," said a calm female voice.

"Yeah, says who?" snapped Red Hulk.

There was a pause before the voice said, "You are approaching a restricted zone. Alter your heading. Photon cannons are tracking your aircraft. You have 30 seconds to begin altering course."

"Ah, we've gotten worse threats before," said Red Hulk dismissively.

The voice said calmly, "Non-compliance noted. Your deaths may be recorded for training purposes. Have a nice day." before the line went dead.

"You wanna bail out now or just crash with the jet?" asked She-Hulk.

Yellow energy bolts were already shooting past the window. It seemed the elements had interfered with the weapons firing, grey spots below showing where the turrets were, more emerging with clouds of snow to add their own weapons fire.

"When did the Leader get all that installed?" asked A-Bomb, "I mean, seriously, these bad guys spend a lot of time in prison, where do they get all that tech they have?"

The Jump Jet shook with a hit at that, something, apparently the wing spiralling away. The turrets aim was improving...that or there was so much weaponfire, it was starting to become possible to get out and walk. "Where do you wanna crash, boys?" asked She-Hulk.

"Right on top of them," said Hulk angrily, just before a lucky shot sliced the ship in two.

* * *

"What...was that?" muttered Chloe. The others had found her on a stretcher in one of the less-damaged bays, a green light being bathed onto her and a lit word 'reality field' active' seen above her.

"That's what I'd like to know but the computer's keeping its mouth shut," said Matt with concern.

He and Chris had a good idea what the green light was, which was confirmed when Zira stuck her head in and said, "That's alot of Gamma."

"Look, I'm sure it's just as safe as the radiation treatment back home," said Matt.

"Safe?" asked Chloe flatly.

"It's got a reality field around you. No mutations today," said Matt cheerfully, Chloe looking confused as Matt's shadow seemed to lengthen behind him. "I mean, it's not like your feathers are going to fall out," said Matt.

"Erm...Matt?" said Chloe, trying to point.

Matt looked confused and turning to be nose to nose with a furious NegaMorph. "Matt...I'm going to give you 10 seconds..." he snarled.

Matt asked, "To explain?"

Nega snared, "No...it's a headstart."

"NegaMorph, there's-" started Chris.

"No. Everyone's getting their due turn. You might survive. Lynch won't," snarled NegaMorph.

"Get real, NegaMorph," said Matt, "You couldn't ever kill me before. You're not even really capable of killing anyone."

NegaMorph yelled angrily, slashing at Matt with his Lockblade, everyone else yelping as Matt barely avoided being an entire head shorter. "NegaMorph! WHAT THE HELL!" snapped Matt, Chris tackling NegaMorph.

"Get off me!" yelled NegaMorph, throwing Chris across the room.

Chloe glared, trying to get up, coughing as she said, "NegaMorph...stop it...stop.."

"Warning.,..patient must remain still," said the computer.

"NegaMorph, this is the worst place to be doing this," said Kala.

"Don't even think about fireballs, Kala. We may be linked but I will knock you out. Matt's had this coming," NegaMorph snapped.

Zira twitched and hulking out before bringing a fist down on NegaMorph, continually hammering as she said, "I'll stop once you agree to LISTEN!"

"Don't know who you are, don't care!" snapped NegaMorph, firing a blast of negative energy to throw her off.

"Chloe's ill, you idiot!" roared Chris as Kira fell backwards.

"What?" asked NegaMorph, temporarily thrown off his revenge streak.

"Megan poisoned her. One of her pets shot her full of a nasty little concoction," snapped Matt angrily, "Your niece has spent the last month trying to kill us...and she might actually rack up a notch."

"And it's your fault that she went bad!" snarled NegaMorph, a red aura appearing around him.

"For God's sake, Nega, don't be an idiot. She has the Virk virus," snapped Chloe angrily, wincing again before laying back.

"And who's fault is it that she got it?" snapped NegaMorph.

"Some alien creep!" snapped Matt.

"That is the lamest excuse you've ever given, Lynch," snapped NegaMorph.

"I didn't deploy that plague and it was Megan's idea to take a ship away. You want someone's head. You take Taleth's. It's his toy," snapped Matt.

"We could have gotten to her before she went bad if you weren't playing around with nanites!" snapped NegaMorph.

"I didn't plan that mess and you know it!" snapped Matt, his eyes glowing.

Kira pushed them both aside. "Both of you, this isn't helping. NegaMorph, I've heard of you. Take a chill pill before you break something...like Chloe's life support." before she turned to Matt. "You...take some responsibility..." before she got even larger and loomed over the two who stared bug-eyed and she snapped in a deep voice "OR I'LL BREAK YOU BOTH IN HALF!"

"Yes ma'am," whimpered Matt.

"Would someone like to make introductions?" asked NegaMorph.

"I am Kira...and Zira," said Kira angrily.

NegaMorph muttered, "Wait...Zira as in that failed terraforming experiment?" He laughed. "No way, she was a weakli-" he began before Kira reached down, grabbed his head and squeezed. "Ok...let's start again...I'm NegaMorph, nice to meet you," he said via his hand mouth, adding, "Please let go...I think my brain is somewhere in my arm at the moment."

Kira let go of NegaMorph, letting him splat on the ground. "Ok...I can agree to shelve this for a later date..." he rasped, his head reforming. "Nothing'll taste right for a week." before he walked over to Chloe. "Are you sure you haven't provoked Megan at all?" he asked.

"If by 'provoke' you mean 'stop her from mutating innocent teens at the prom', then yes," said Chloe.

"Ok, Megan would never do that," said Nega.

Kira looking at Matt. "Denial is never pretty," she said.

"You know how nasty Draconus and Silvia are?" asked Matt.

"That's up for debate," said NegaMorph.

Chloe, staring at the ceiling from her bed, said, "NegaMorph, you _know_ how nasty Silvia could be. Megan's calling herself Lady NegaMorph again. She has a SHIELD rap sheet...and she kidnapped our local versions and turned them into her minions. She did it to the local Kala too..."  
"How? Even at her lowest, she wouldn't-" started NegaMorph.

"I don't think you've seen her lowest," said Kala, "And even if you have, a Virk other is always lower."

"She's using gene tech, I'm sure of it. I'm sure it's not local but I'll be damned if I know where she got it," said Matt darkly.

Nega paused. "There was a splitter ship in orbit when I arrived..." he said before the entire room shook, a klaxon sounding.

"Warning...hull breach, upper level. Reality generator 2 compromised," said the computer, adding, "And please remove the white amorphous slug from the cafeteria."

"You brought Morph?" asked Matt, annoyance that predated a major headache in his voice.

"He stowed away with me...somehow," said NegaMorph.

"He's Morph," said Chloe, Chris and Matt in unison.

NegaMorph mumbled, "I should have accounted for smids." Another bang heard.

"Ok, Chris, keep an eye on Chloe. NegaMorph, do you fancy venthing on something?" Matt said, igniting a plasma ball.

"Just stay out of my way," said NegaMorph.

Chloe glared, "Please, you said you'd leave it for later. You can't fight whatever's coming if you're fighting each other."

NegaMorph sighed, "Fine, but only because you're having your blood tanned right now."

"Chris, Kira, keep an eye on Chloe. NegaMorph, wanna go vent on some intruders?" asked Matt.

* * *

The blastdoor fell before a punch, several turrets rotating. "This is a class 9 military center. You are in vio-" began a combat droid before a green fist smashed it.

"Hmm...gettin' the feeling that Watermelon Head didn't build this place," said Red Hulk, looking around.

"NSC and Mercenary forces have been informed...surrender," said the computer, more mechs walking into view, firing for all the good it did.

"You know, it kinda tickles," said A-Bomb.

"Guess this really isn't the Leader's work," said Hulk, "He'd at least have the bots be shooting something that stings."

Several blue orbs shot round the corner at that, converging before exploding, knocking them back. "You like that, you little looting...oh dear God no," said Matt weakly.

NegaMorph ran up behind him. "Did you at least leave...oh blitznak..." he said, dropping his Lockblade in horror.

The Hulk was the first back up. "That hurt!" he snapped.

NegaMorph blinked before saying, "He did it." vanishing into a shadow.

"You son of a...let's talk about this like civilized genetic mutants," Matt said nervously. The Hulk just growled angrily. He didn't appear to be a mood for discussion. "Erm..." said Matt nervously looking at the other Hulks. "Little help? This is a terrible misunderstand-OHDEARGOD!" he screamed as Hulk threw a piece of the wall at him.

"Save some for me, Greenie!" called Red Hulk.

"No, don't save some!" yelped Matt, running for it.

* * *

The others looked up at NegaMorph shadow-portaled back in. "Wow, that didn't take long," said Kala.

"Nope, not long at all," said NegaMorph quickly before grabbing a table and propping it against the door.

Chloe said calmly, "Ok...what did he do?"

Nega said, "Shot the Hulk."

Chris laughed and said, "That's funny. I thought you said Matt shot the Hulk." NegaMorph glared, Chris pausing and saying weakly, "Oh, dear God, we're all dead."

"Uh, let me help you with that," said Kira, picking up another table.

"Wait a minute. Matt's still out there," said Kala.

"And your point being?" asked NegaMorph. Kala glared before NegaMorph said, "You want to fight the Hulk?"

Kala paused before saying, "Pass me another table."

* * *

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE SOMEONE ELSE!" screamed Matt, flying down one of the wider corridors, where he had no idea. He was more concerned in _not_ being turned into a greasy smear. "The one time I _didn't_ bring Spider-Man along. He could have talked down the Incredible Hulk. But no... He had to go to Asia," grumbled Matt.

He turned his head to look behind him. "Come on, one of you must be able to talk him down!" he yelled, using his tail to hit a blastdoor control as he flew past, for all it did. "There's gotta be something in the base that at least slow them down," muttered Matt.

He flew out into an open room and stopped himself. Rows of reality generators were humming away. "Oh please not here," he said, turning and firing blasts at the doorframe to block the entrance. Matt looked around frantically for a way out that won't involved leading four enraged gamma mutates past the very important generators.

When nothing presented himself he took a deep breath, gave a silent prayer and yelled "PARLEEEEY!" as loud as he could. Matt waited a long time before finally daring to open his door had not been breached. Matt allowed himself a long sigh of relief.

Then the wall next to the door caved in. "Of course," Matt said gloomily landing and raising his hands in the universal sign for 'I give up and I do _not_ want my rights read.' "Guys, please, there's no need to continue..." Matt paused and sniffed. "What smells like over-microwaved potatoes?"

Morph waddled through the hole at that, his techpack folding away. "Hey, someone blocked the door," he said, holding a bowl of glowing mashed potatoes.

"Morph, get over here," snapped Matt, dragging him over. "Where's the Hulk?" he snapped.

"I dunno. I'm trying to find someone to fix the microwave. It nuked my potatoes."

"Morph, you sure it was a microwave?" asked Matt.

"There was alot of beds in there," said Morph, before both of them heard a squeak from the bowl, turning to look before the 'potatoes' grew teeth and lunged, Morph and Matt screaming and throwing it back out the hole, a splat heard.

"Please tell me that was Chris," said Matt. The Hulks walked through the hole at that, Matt whimpering given it was She-Hulk who had been hit. "Morph, apologise to the nice lady for creating a potato monster," Matt whimpered, holding Morph up.

"Is that the Incredible Hulk?" asked Morph.

"Yes...and he wants to crush me. Tell him I would not have shot him if I had known," said Matt, desperation clear.

Morph would not be on anyone's choice for a character witness. "Should we ask them why they're here?" asked Morph.

"JUST APOLOGIZE TO THEM!" yelled Matt.

Morph looked at the Hulks before saying "I'm sorry for throwing the mashed potatoes." Matt twitching before snarling and popping Morph on reflex., Morph's head saying "Yay, I'm popcorn."

Matt turned to the Hulks and said, "There is a very good explanation for everything."

"Who are ya working for?" snapped the red one.

Matt blinked. "Erm...pardon?" a little confused.

Hulk picked Matt up by the shoulder and said, "Who owns this place?"

Matt twitched at that, the small part that always got him in trouble, snapped, "You mean the military hospital?" before twitching "I'm so sorry, that sometimes happens."

"Well this place is about to be decommissioned," said the Red Hulk, pounding one fist into his palm.

"Don't you dare. Those generators are all that's-" began Matt.

"I've heard enough of this," said the Red Hulk, walking over to the nearest generator.

"NO!" yelled Matt as Red Hulk emptied a clip into the generator.

"Alert...reality field compromised...backups...offline..." said the computer, Matt staring with pinprick eyes before he began to snarl.

"I'm getting the feeling we goofed up," said the spiky blue Hulk.

Matt's scales glowed before a shockwave shot out in all directions. "MY SISTER NEEDED THOSE!" he roared through the smoke, the steam clearing to show a very angry-looking dragon.

"Ok, that's a new one for me," said Red Hulk.

The dragon turned to look at Red Hulk, his eyes glowing red. "I think I'll start with you," he snarled.

"I've eaten bigger things than you for breakfast," said Red Hulk, pointing his guns at the dragon.

The dragon hissed before its head shot out rapidly, biting the ends off the guns and pointedly chewing them slowly before swallowing. "Get out before you hurt my sister even more," he growled.

"Hey, hey, guys, let's all take a minute to cool down," said A-Bomb.

"You do know this is Red you're talking about, right?" asked She-Hulk.

The dragon roared, just as Red Hulk charged him, the two rolling back into some more consoles before, with rather non-animal tactics, the dragon kicked Red Hulk back before grabbing him. "Shall we go outside?" he snarled before sending a blast into the roof and talking off, Red Hulk in hand.

Hulk sighed and said, "I'll go get Red." With that, he jumped through the hole in the ceiling.

"So...what are we supposed to do?" asked A-Bomb.

"Do you guys want a tour?" asked Morph, who had reassembled at their feet.

* * *

"I'm giving you a ride to the top of the world, tiny," snarled Matt with an almost bloodthirsty toothy grin. All his brain could focus on was the struggling Hulk in his claws and the danger he'd put Chloe in. There was another thing that was starting to pierce through to his head: an increasing hotness in his claws.

He looked closer to see his target was glowing red, just as they smashed through the outer shell and into the falling snow. "Hot head, eh? Cool off," sneered Matt, throwing his quarry at the ground. A large cloud of steam came up where Red Hulk landed.

Red Hulk soon became visible, the snow around him melting. "Come down here and fight, you lounge lizard!" he snapped, turning to see Matt had surrounded himself with several dozen glowing red plasma balls, a dark expression on his face. "Oh sure, big hot shot when you've broken my ranged weapons," snapped Red Hulk, "How about me fighting man-to-dragonfly?"

"Now why would I do that when I can play tag?" sneered Matt before with a wave of his claws, the orbs started shooting at Red Hulk.

Of course, Red Hulk was still a soldier and he had trained to dodge artillery fire. He picked up a large hunk of ice and called, "Here's Red in your eye!" He threw the hunk right up at the dragon.

Matt blinked as the heated ice turned to water in the air, a brief burst of plasma flame evaporating it. "Nice...my turn," he said. Once he got to the right height, he allowed himself to drop. He's going to land right on that crimson cranium.

Just then, something big and green came out of the hole in the ice, jumped up, and collided with Matt's stomach like an oversized cannonball. Matt's eyes crossed with a 'oof' before he was sent back up, managing to right himself and scan for whatever got between him and turning the Red Hulk into a smear. It was pretty easy to spot the Hulk as he was a lot greener than everything around him.

"This is between me and the hothead! Stay out of this!" he yelled...and when a dragon yelled, people in the next area code would hear it.

"And I'm putting a stop to it before the two of you melt the North Pole," said Hulk.

Matt landed, walking up to the Hulk, looking down before he swatted him aside and charged Red Hulk, roaring "NOT TILL I'M DONE!" He was yanked off his feet when someone grabbed his tail. Pretty soon, he was being swung around by it. He yelped as he was thrown a decent distance into a drift, getting up. "Ok...both of you," he snarled, sending a horde of plasma orbs out to carpet bomb them.

* * *

"...and that's where I made the potato monster," said Morph, pointing to a door marked 'reactor inspection port', before pointing to a blockaded door. "And that's where the others are," he said before a faint swear word heard from the other side, a louder voice snapping "DAMMIT, MORPH!"

"Who's all in there?" asked She-Hulk.

"Would you believe us if we said we were figments of your imagination?" said a voice, before it said, "Ok, let's see you come up with something."

"I'm gonna open the door now," said She-Hulk.

A new voice laughed, "Oh please, my Lockblade melted this rubble together. Do your worst." She-Hulk cricked her shoulders before swinging her arm to build up momentum. The 'smug voice said, "Oh...buncha cowards hiding-" before She-Hulk's punch collapsed the rubble, her and A-Bomb walking in to see several mutants.

"Nice," said the furry one cheerfully, a groan from the rubble said "Oooooww...I hate this planet already."

A-Bomb shielded his eyes and said, "Jen, either that's an alien tanning bed, or someone's taking a gamma bath."

"It's fine...the reality field stops mutation..." said the patient weakly, the ground shaking. "Ok...who pissed off my brother? I know a plasma explosion anywhere," she said in a calm voice.

"Your brother being the dragon that carried off Red?" asked She-Hulk.

"Oh for God's sake...did any of you insult our ship?" said the lizard, peering up.

"Wait, I think I know that face," said A-Bomb, "Where have I seen it before?"

"I might have been in the news with my brother," said the lizard, wincing as another explosion was heard.

"Alert...outer hull compromised...backup generators compromise...reality contamination at 3.9 gigarins and rising," said the computer, pausing before saying, "Unable to disengage treatment...fireteam to ward 49."

"Ok, those words sounded bad but I don't know what they meant," said A-Bomb.

"Get me out these restraints! OH GOD GET ME LOOSE!" snapped the lizard in a panic. The wolf-bat creature immediately ran towards the bed she was clamped to. Just as he was about to reach it, the air rippled and he was thrown across the bay.

"Containment field active...please contact Security Chief Hanson for override..." said the computer, "Reality contamination now at 14.9 gigarins. Reality field failure imminent."

"What's going on?" asked She-Hulk.

"Chloe's about to take a full dosage of your reality's gamma radiation," said the redheaded woman, the only one in the room who looked normal, "And I don't think it's just going to give her a tan."

"Reality fields: Offline...reactor emergency shutdown in 30 microns...29...28...27..." said the computer, the lizard now banging from the other side before starting to twitch.

It started out with a few of the smaller ones, but pretty soon all of her feathers were falling out. There were several unpleasant cracks as her bones were being forced down into smaller forms, her claws losing the edge before they shrank into simple fingers and toes. Her wings and tail were withering up and being swallowed up by her back. The grunts and cracks as her muzzle was forced back into her skull did not sound very pleasant either.

The wolf-bat stared, as the field dropped. "Reactor shutdown complete...emergency power engaged," the computer said.

The newly-changed human blinking before air punching. "Yes...no more scales," she said before she said, "Ok...NegaMorph? Come out." her hand crackling with static.

A black ooze came out from under the smashed door before forming into a twisted black creature in a black trenchcoat and fedora. "The gamma just made you human again?" he asked, "Huh, that was lucky."

"Yes...now then...where's Matt?" she said, another explosion heard.

NegaMorph smirked. "By now, so pissed off he'll have started arm wrestling the nearest polar bear," he said evilly.

"Did you have to give him the rage?" asked Kala with annoyance.

"What do you mean 'give him'?" asked Chloe suspiciously.

"Uh, I mean I kinda got him mad when I tried to attack him," said NegaMorph.

"Yeah, except that when NegaMorph is angry enough, his anger literally spreads to other people, particularly people with bad tempers," said Kala.

"You...so obviously an accident. Go fix it," said Chloe, her eyes glowing green, something She-Hulk spotted.

"I'd do what she says," she said carefully.

"Why should I?" asked NegaMorph, "Matt more than has it coming. This isn't even covering what he's due."

"You infected him with rage and sent him at the Hulks?" snapped Chloe, twitching, the others noticing the glow now.

"Chloe, I don't think that's a healthy golden glow you're showing," said Chris with worry.

"Chris...shut...UP!" snarled Chloe, pointing a hand and a ball of lightning sending Chris flying into A-Bomb, her hand started to shake.

"Chloe...you need to calm down..." said Kala, making her voice as soothing as possible.

"Calm down? The first friendly face in weeks and he's trying to kill my brother like the pillock he is...back in the Hunt we'd have gutted him," snarled Chloe, her nails distending into claws.

"The Hunt? Chloe, I don't think you're thinking straight," said Kala. "I'm...thinnnnking...strrrrrrraiiight enough..." snarled Chloe, gripping her head.

A green glow was surrounding Chloe as electricity sparked off of her. Before long, hair started appearing on her exposed skin before it quickly thickened into fur. Chloe grunted and growled as her feet became digitigrade again and her tail grew back. But this time, both feet and tail were distinctly lupine. Her clothes started ripping as she became taller and more muscular. The way she was gritting her teeth made it easy for them to see they were becoming sharper even before her face started pushing out into a muzzle.

To her friends, her new form was very familiar except for three differences: her fur was golden, she was much taller than before, and her eyes were glowing green. To She-Hulk and A-Bomb, Chloe had just turned into a She-Hulk-sized werewolf.

The werewolf shook her head before looking around. "Where am I?" she snapped, in a tone of voice tone that expected immediate obedience.

"Er, Chloe?" asked Chris uncertainly.

"Who?" snarled Chloe, before looking at him. "What curse did you befall?" she said, her hand started to glow.

"Uh, Chloe, I'm not sure you know what you're doing," said Chris, backing up.

"Of course I do, I'm fixing you," said 'Chloe' a blast of energy hitting Chris, before, as Chris grunted in pain, she seemed to finally notice everyone else. "Oh...meat that delivers," she said smugly.

"Hey, that's no way to look at your future sister-in-law," said Kala.

"Oh? And what makes you think you'd be welcome?" sneered Chloe, flexing her claws and readying a scratch before She-Hulk grabbed her wrist.

"Ok, I know you just Hulked, sorta, but you need to rein it in," said She-Hulk.

"Get your hand off me, Orc." snapped Chloe.

"Orc? That's a new one," said She-Hulk before looking at A-Bomb, "What are orcs?"

"Knock her out for pete's sake," snapped Kala in a panic.

"Ok, just gotta put her in a sleeper hold," said She-Hulk. She tried to grab Chloe with her other hand, but Chloe's skin was looser than it looks.

Chloe grinned, before letting her feet slip allowing her to flip over She-Hulk and into the doorway. "It takes more than that to catch a Daughter of the Hunt," she taunted, before running out of view.

"Great...now a Nirn werewolf's loose," snapped Kala, before pausing, as a growl from Chris was heard.

NegaMorph turned to Chris and said, "Chris, you better not be going feral on us." He turned to Kala and asked, "When did he get the bat wings?"

"Long story," said Kala. Said bat wings were starting to wilt at that, their mass adding to his muscle mass, bringing it up to a more normal lycan look.

"I think I know what the cure was," said Kira, peering closely, "Are you gonna play nice?" Chris snapped his jaws an inch from her nose. "Guess not," she said, bringing a fist down on his head with a surprisingly hollow noise.

"Don't worry, he's no stronger than he looks," said Kala. Then Chris grabbed a bed, ripped it out of the floor, and threw it at them. A-Bomb managed to catch it before it could hit them, Kala saying weakly, "Ok...he's tougher than he looks now."

"But not that tough," said NegaMorph, "He isn't nuclear-powered."

"That's gamma-powered," said Kira.

"There's a difference?" asked NegaMorph.

"Well..." said Kala carefully, before Chris grabbed NegaMorph.

"Ok, wolfy, let's get this over with so we can focus on the bigger problem," said NegaMorph.

Chris's response was for his hand to glow and an obsidian and rather unfriendly-looking mace to materialize there, which then was embedded in NegaMorph's head.

"Since when could Chris use magic?" asked NegaMorph through another of his mouths.

Kala's response was to yell "RUN AWAY!" as Chris lifted his other hand and a fireball shot out.

"Werewolf warlock, didn't see that coming," commented A-Bomb, "Still, nothing an Agent of SMASH can't handle." With that, he rolled into a ball before bowling right into Chris. Chris growled before grabbing A-Bomb; digging his claws in before trying to bite him...and yelping, clutching his muzzle. A-Bomb uncurled and said, "Not as tough as a wendigo, huh? Good to know." With that, he punched Chris into a wall.

Chris yelped, hitting the far wall, before pulling himself up, wiping his jaw before charging with an angry howl. However, A-Bomb turned invisible and Chris missed him. Another punch to the back made him land on his snout.

Chris rolled to the side to avoid a kick from Kira before closing his eyes, sniffing, then swinging out with his fist and hitting A-Bomb. A-Bomb was sent flying across the room and smacked a wall. "Ok, invisibility doesn't work well with trackers," said A-Bomb, fading back into view.

Chris turned to look at She-Hulk then. "You...out of my way," he said in a guttural tone, his mace re-appearing.

"You didn't say please," said She-Hulk before punching him.

Chris yelped as he was sent flying, his eyes spiralling. "NegaMorph, tie him up," yelped Kala, grabbing a cloth and tying Chris's feet together.

"Right," said NegaMorph before wrapping shadows around and tying them tight.

"Morph, you know what to do," said Kala.

"Leave him on the tracks and wait for the train to come?" asked Morph.

Kala blinked before she said, "Nooo...the other thing." with desperate patience, "Gag him? Plug his mouth? Muzzle him?"

Morph said, "Ok." reaching into his techpack and removing a black sock, Kala's eyes crossing.

"Is that one of Matt's..." she began.

"Yep," said Morph.

"You're not gonna..." started NegaMorph.

"Nope," said Morph before pushing the sock around Chris's muzzle. Chris's eyes widened at that. It was worth noticing that once an entire deck of the _Bladestorm_ had gone into bio-weapon lockdown when it had detected the sock's fellow...and that a canine's nose is 10,000 times more sensitive than a human's…

"I think he'd rather have it in his mouth," said Kala, wincing in sympathy. Chris nodded desperately, a small white flag appearing in a blast of magic that he waved mutely.

"Let's wait a few more seconds," said NegaMorph, "Make sure his mind's back to normal."

Another boom was heard at that, Kala saying icily, "You've done enough. Go make Matt think straight."

"Ok, ok, it ought to be wearing off soon anyways," said NegaMorph. "Go...make...sure..." said Kala warningly, the air seeming to get warm around her.

"Alright, alright already," said NegaMorph, walking out.

* * *

Matt landed with a crash, a pile of snow piling over his nose before he forced himself to his feet, shaking his head. Two against one wasn't good but they'd endangered his sister and they were all going to pay.

Just then, a shadow formed at his feet before NegaMorph came out of it. "Ok, Matt, I would let you knock yourself senseless, but we've got more pressing matters," said NegaMorph.

Matt, his eye twitching, snapped, "I SAID NO INTERRUPTIONS!" before stomping on NegaMorph, several cracks forming around said stomp.

"Matt, the polar bears are already losing a lot of hunting ground. You don't need to contribute," said NegaMorph under Matt's foot. Matt's eyes narrowed before he lifted his foot. "Thank you very-HEY!" he snapped as Matt stomped down again harder. NegaMorph's muffled voice said, "This is beneath you...so am I."

Matt lifted his foot and got ready to stomp down even harder. "Ok, this is getting ridiculous," said NegaMorph, his eyes turning yellow. But then Matt's foot came down again and there was a yellow flash underneath of it. Matt blinked, before his leg gave out. NegaMorph pulled free, saying "Hah...that'll teach...oh no." turning to see Matt falling on him. Matt was about to get up before his eyes went from red to yellow and he got a content half-asleep smile.

Red Hulk leaped over there and snapped, "Alright, let's see how tough you are up close and personal." When Matt didn't respond, he poked at Matt and said, "Hey, I'm talkin' to you, lounge lizard."

"That's nice...not in the mood to fight anymore..." said Matt with the same half-asleep smile.

NegaMorph's muffled voice said, "Get him off. Avalarians literally weight tons. I think my techpack's is now techpaper."

Hulk walked over and pulled up Matt's leg, revealing a black puddle in the crater beneath it. "Thank you" said the puddle, flowing up into NegaMorph, who looked up and peeling his new flattened fedora from the underside of Matt's leg. "He'll be in hippie mode for a good hour, the dose I gave him."

"And who are you supposed to be?" asked Hulk.

"'What' is also a valid question," said Red Hulk.

"I'm the guy who knocked Dragonheart here out before he carpet bombed the North Pole into a water park trying to kill you," said NegaMorph in an annoyed tone, "Look, my sloth power's only temporary. As long as nothing sets him off, we'll be fine."

A roll of thunder was heard before a crack appeared in the ice, a gold furred fist punching up. "Like that," said NegaMorph darkly.

"Oh now what?" asked Red Hulk with annoyance.

A golden werewolf pulled herself free at that, NegaMorph saying in shock. "Oh crap, that's his sister," he said, facepalming.

Matt raised his head, "Hey sis...you need a haircut." NegaMorph sighing with relief as Matt went back to his stupor.

Hulk glanced between the two and said, "Don't see much family resemblance."

The wolf looked around and spotted them before seeing Matt. "You dare drug my brother?" she snapped, sending a blast of lightning out.

The blast hit the Hulk, giving him a nasty shock. "Ok, ow, now I see it," he said. Chloe glared before charging the Hulk, jumping at the last second to turn it into a two-footed flying kick, landing in a crouch.

"She's got moves, I give her that," said Red Hulk, "But I bet she never saw any good ol' army trainin'." With that, she charged at Chloe.

"I'm not sure how much she remembers her past at the moment, but I'm more than sure-" started NegaMorph.

He signed and ducked as Red flew overhead, Chloe sneering. "You think to best a Daughter of the Hunt?" she sneered.

"Does the 'Daughter of the Hunt' have a name?" asked NegaMorph dryly.

"My name is Mist, demon. Remember it in the few minutes you have le-" snapped 'Mist' charging Nega who just shot a yellow beam into her face, Mist crumpling and sliding to a halt at his feet, snoring.

A second later, NegaMorph heard laughter getting louder. He looked to see Red Hulk still in the snow and laughing. "Her name's Mist?" he laughed, "Seriously? What do her friends call her? Misty?" He laughed even harder at that.

"Shall I wake her up so she can finish seeing how far she can drop kick you?" said NegaMorph smugly, as the Hulk landed.

Matt twitched and opening one of Mist's eyes. "NegaMorph, an explanation for why my sister has green eyes?" asked Matt.

"Your scrap caused her to get dosed up on gamma energy. This was the result," said NegaMorph, leaving out that it was technically his fault for dosing Matt up on negative energy.

"Chloe is a gamma mutate? Oh geeze. This is gonna be a headache, literally," said Matt.

* * *

Human Matt struggled as Gamma Chloe was giving him a noogie. "C'mon, Chloe, I never did this to you," said Matt.

"You should have when you had the chance," said Gamma Chloe before applying her knuckles again.

* * *

"Ok...ok...we can fix this...there's gotta be a cure..." said Matt, starting to hyperventilate a little before he said, "Wait, she's already a werewolf. Why's she snapped now?"

"I dunno. Might have something to do with the fact that she was a dinosaur just before that," said NegaMorph.

"This is the Dakota that keeps bein' in the news?" laughed Red, lifting the snoring Mist up.

"I wouldn't do that. They don't need to bite you to infect you. I learnt that the hard way," said Matt, shaking his head to dislodge a yellow mist from his body.

Let's get her someplace where she'll cause less damage," said Hulk.

"Like where?" said Matt

* * *

There are few people who trust the Hulk, or even know for sure who he was before it all. One such person made her living in the unforgiving northern part of Canada: Dr. Betty Ross. She'd tried to help cure the Hulk before, and though she understood why he had been forced to reapply his condition, it still hurt.

Her base however had grown, an independent company from Japan showing interest in her gamma cure research, especially in view of the Fukushima disaster several years ago. Her base also had a special guest all the way from SHIELD.

"Now, Mr. Jameson..." started Betty.

"Please, Mr. Jameson's my father," said the patient, a young man with surprisingly white hair and a pointy overbite, "Call me John."

"Right. John, you should know that my research is mainly in gamma radiation," said Betty, "Your condition...I'm not entirely sure of its source."

"Well, that makes two of us," said John.

"The stone did this? I understand Spider-Man smashed it. It's a shame, if it was intact, it would have helped. That said, I'm sure there's a cure," Betty said kindly, checking the latest test results. Several images showed some strength tests, showing that, even with his change stuck halfway, John still had serious abilities.

"We still don't know where those stones came from or why anyone put them on the moon," said John, "Even that sword is made from an unknown metal."

"Indeed, but for now the priority is curing you." said Betty.

Another doctor nodded. "If I may, doctor. My labs back in Tokyo have been experimenting with nanotech for problems like this..." he said.

"I'm not quite sure how nanotech can help with this," said Betty, "We still aren't even sure if this energy is scientific or mystic in nature."

"Magic? Most doctors wouldn't give magic the time of day," said the other doctor with amusement.

"I've seen more than enough weird things to remove my skepticism," said Betty, "I don't get involved with it, but I'd be foolish to ignore it."

"I could have one of our super-computers linked here. They might be able to find something," said the doctor calmly.

"Unless there's an obscure Japanese legend about a wolf god hiding treasure on the moon, I don't think you'll find something we don't already know," said John.

"Never overlook anything..." said the doctor cheerfully, walking out of the lab. John narrowed his eyes. A small part of him he thought of as the wolf was screaming not to trust that doctor...that he was hiding something. But he had good reason not to trust the wolf itself. The only thing he knew about it was that it tried to kill everyone it came across.

"John...John, are you ok?" asked Betty, snapping him out of it. "You zoned out. Are you ok?" she asked.

John nodded. "Yeah...how long has that guy been here?" he asked.

"He came here when his company invested in my research and expanded my laboratory," said Betty.

"Right, and what company is that?" asked John.

"Tin-sen Technologies," said Betty, "Some up and comer. We don't get the news much up here."

"Don't get much visitors either, I imagine," said John.

A ring was heard at that, John raising an eyebrow as Betty took out a modified mobile and looked at the number. "Urgh...Dad," she muttered, answering the call.

"I was worried about meeting him so soon," said John jokingly.

"You should be," said Betty.

"Sweetheart?" said Red's voice over the other end.

"Dad, is this important? I'm busy with a patient," said Betty.

"Well, uh, you might have another patient soon," said Red.

"Is it Bruce? What happened to him?" asked Betty, sounding worried.

"I'm fine, Betty," said Hulk's voice.

"Thank God. Who's the patient?" asked Betty, a faint female voice screaming "Hircine will have your heads on pikes for this traves-ow...you hit me...how dare-OW...QUIT IT!"

"Uh...it's a complicated story. You mind if I tell it to you in person?" asked Hulk's voice.

* * *

"Urgh...how much longer must I keep this charade up?" muttered the 'doctor' walking into his quarters and pressing a button on his watch, revealing a catlike alien. He sat at a computer at his desk, typing in a command, before he said, "This is Agent K'ness reporting. Miss Ross is still...secretive about what's in Lab 16."

"Affirmative. You have 24 hours. Command wants to know what her gamma research led to. You have orders to infiltrate the lab and copy the data. No witnesses," said a voice on the other end.

K'ness sighing. "Sir, if they find bodies..." he said, the voice saying "You have your orders...command out."

K'ness sighed, standing up and walking out, turning his holo-cloak back on first and therefore missing when his computer flashed the warning 'Shadow rift detected at perimeter'.

* * *

Falcore stepped out into the snow, shaking his head a little. Lady NegaMorph's stupid rift had popped them out in a snow drift...and that...thing. She had done anything it had said, including raiding some obscure base. He turned as Sara walked through, her eyes unfocussed. It seemed the serum was taking a bit to kick in.

What worried Falcore was that Sara was so exposed to the cold. She wasn't even wearing a coat or boots. In fact, while her outfit was covering her upper body, it hardly looked warm...some sort of skin-tight material that the alien had said would shield her from sensors.

"Sara...are you ok? You should go back. You'll pass out," Falcore said, walking towards her while pulling out his communicator to get Lady Nega to reopen the portal.

"I'm feeling fine," said Sara, her tone a little hazy, "Better than ever."

"You're going to get frostbite," said Falcore.

"Frostbite?" said Sara, as if the word was alien before she laughed in an almost musical tone...like birdsong.

"Sara, you really should get out of the cold," said Falcore.

"On the contrary," said Sara, "I need to get even colder."

"NO..." snapped Falcore as she literally threw her back onto a snowdrift, her body shivering. "Lady NegaMorph, call us back! Sara has delirium! She's freezing to death!" he screamed into the comm.

"It's part of the process," came Lady NegaMorph's voice, "What did you think we put in her?"

"She's freezing!" yelled Falcore, running over and trying to rub some warmth into Sara's shaking limbs before she pushed him back, her nails turning back into talons.

A bluish glow was surrounding her as her body was becoming covered with blue feathers. Falcore backed up as a tear began to rip down the middle of her chest as her breasts grew, covered in white feathers so smooth they almost looked like skin themselves, the back tearing up as a pair of wings tore themselves free. Very long tail feathers grew from her lower back as well.

Her feet grew larger and turned grey. Her toes became longer and dwindled to three as talons appeared on them. What looked like a high-heel emerged from the back of her foot until it revealed itself to be a fourth talon.

Finally, with a look of pure bliss on her face, her mouth distended into a short beak, sky blue feathers covering her face and a crest of 5 long blue feathers going down her back like hair before she paused.

Her look was now of a large anthropomorphic bird, Falcore blushing a little. While her front was still covered, it still gave a...ahem...good view. Sara looked down at herself and said, "I turned out even better than I expected." She hefted up her now larger breasts and said, "The girls back home won't be able to compete with these."  
Falcore glared at that. "Sara, focus. This is not the time at all. We are on a mission," he snapped, coping by focussing on the job. There would be plenty of time to behead that lizard thing that had done this to her later.

"We've already done the mission," said Sara before breathing out a gust of very cold air.

"No...we have a base to raid," said Falcore, adding, "And then I have someone to kill."

* * *

Since the Jump Jet was once again scrapped, getting to the research facility required doing something more old-fashioned.

Matt was panting as the Hulks were leaping in front of him. He had reason to be panting as he was carrying both werewolves. "Chris just had to lose his wings," grumbled Matt.

Chloe, ie Mist, snapped, "Release us Dovah and I'm sure my father will be generous."

Matt, now at the end of his tether, said, "Look down and then rephrase your demand."

"I demand you put me back on the ground," said Mist, speaking a little softer.

"Make me," said Matt smugly.

Just then, Kala called on his comm, "Matt, it looks like you're falling behind."

"You could have flown with me and share the load," said Matt pointedly.

"I don't have my wings back yet," reminded Kala, "Besides, someone needs to decommission this case." She and Zira had stayed behind to shut down all the reactors and other equipment.

"Leaving me alone with two brain-zapped werewolves and a homicidal NegaMorph," said Matt dryly.

"Well, at least you have Morph with you," said Kala.

"Actually, NegaMorph is taking Morph. That doesn't really fill me with comfort, especially since we're going to a research station that probably has very sensitive equipment. You sure you couldn't watch him while we deal with our business?" asked Matt.

"Can you imagine what would happen if Morph was left alone with the gamma reactors for even a nanosecond?" asked Kala dryly.

An image immediately popped into Matt's head.

* * *

A smoldering crater was glowing bright green in the Arctic ice. "BLLLLAAAARRRGHH!" roared a glowing green Morph as he climbed out of the crater, "Must...destroy...mankind…" Just then, his techpack started beeping. "Ooh, lunchtime," said Morph happily before shaking off the green glow and walking away.

* * *

"Yes. Yes I can," said Matt in a rigid tone that showed justified fear, "We'll have NegaMorph keep a close eye on him."

"So how will you know when you get there anyways?" asked Kala.

"I think they'll be relying more on remoteness than camouflage when they making this a hidden base," said Matt, "Should stand out from the rest of the terrain."

"Well, there's not much out here in the part of Canada that's in the Arctic Circle," said Kala.

Matt glared ahead before seeing shapes that the Hulks were headed for. "There...follow the red and green gamma mutates," he said, Mist snapping "SILENCE!" before trying unsuccessfully to bite Matt, yelping and spitting a tooth out.

"Kala, you think Chris is in control of himself?" asked Matt.

"We might know if you take that sock off his muzzle," said Kala.

Matt paused before shaking Chris till the sock fell off...and Chris snapped "HIRCINE WILL HAVE YOUR HIDE!" Matt sighed and steered towards a mountaintop, lowering Chris just enough to bash his head against the mountaintop before continuing after the Hulks.

"Yeah, I think he's stuck in pack mentality mode," said Matt, "He's not gonna get better until Chloe gets better."

"I am better..." snapped Mist.

Matt glared. "I will drop you if you do not shut up...into a lake. It'll be like a giant...bath," he said evilly.

"You think a daughter of the hunt would be so easily intimidated by water?" sneered Mist.

"We might be close enough to the ocean," said Matt, "Let's see what the narwhals will think of her."

"The ocean? Sea serpents?" said Mist nervously.

"Yeah...and dreadful sea monsters called...cruise liners," said Matt after a minute.

Just then, the Hulk's voice said on their shared comlink, "Hey, we're almost there."

* * *

Betty wasn't expecting Bruce to return again, especially after what happened with Ronan. But she heard he had made some independent research with his problem. She hoped it was something meaningful. One of the staff, looking at the camp's radar said, "Doctor, I'm reading an aerial contact with what I assume are the Hulks."

"They mentioned they were bringing someone with them," said Betty.

"It's a big something," said the technician before a winged shadow shot past the window, Matt landing in the middle of the base's airfield with a crunch that shook everything.

The shock of a real dragon landing in their base was soon ruined when Matt said, "Ok, we're here now. Everyone get off my back." The dragon shrank down into a humanoid form, before kicking two shapes on the ground. "I'm not carrying you now. Get up," he snapped.

A shadowy creature emerged from the ground and said, "We could just drag them in."

"Nobody drags Mist anywhere," snapped a female voice, Betty taking some binoculars offered her to see some sort of wolf creature get up, with clear signs of gamma mutation. The green eyes were the biggest giveaway, along with the golden glow of her fur.

"Oh Bruce, what trouble are you in now?" she sighed.

* * *

"Oh shit..." muttered the agent/doctor, pulling out a communicator, "Control, Lynch is here."

"If this is an attempt at humor or trying to rush the job, it is not amusing," said the voice on the other end.

"I just saw him land from my lab's window. I think I saw Chloe too, but she's got clear signs of Nirn mutation," snapped the agent, sending the footage from his eye cam.

On the other end of the communicator was the clear sound of a head hitting a desk multiple times. "Keep your cover till you have a chance. Command wants him alive..." said Control's voice.

The agent snapped, "Sure, I'll get my lance."

"He's not at full size now, is he?" snapped Control's voice pointedly.

"Well what do you expect me to do?!" snapped the agent. There was a click followed by silence. "Hello? Dammit!" he snapped, slamming the comm against the wall. "Stupid idiots..." he muttered.

* * *

Matt looked at 'Mist' who glowered from the containment cell. "You sure this'll hold her?" he asked carefully.

"I should remind you that magic isn't my field of expertise. But if she doesn't have any abilities beyond physical strength, it should hold her," said Betty.

"She can usually manifest and control electrical charges up to 200 gigavolts," said Matt.

Mist glared at them. "When I get out of here, you two die first," she snapped.

"The cell is electrically insulated," said Betty, "She won't be able to shock her way out."

"Good, Chloe, if you're in there, I'm gonna cure you," said Matt.

Mist snorted and said, "If you are referring to the weakling whose body I share, she doesn't need a cure."

Matt snarled at that, slamming his fists against the containment cube's shield. "GET OUT OF HER!" he snarled.

Mist smirked. "And go back to being a weakling? Constantly kidnapped or replaced by a crazed spirit?" she sneered.

Betty put a hand on Matt's shoulder and said, "You should keep in mind that gamma radiation tends to radically affect the mind. Even Bruce was a different person when he was first transformed."

"No, I know that voice too well..." said Matt, hanging his head. As well he should. He'd...bent the truth when he'd told the others he hadn't remembered what had properly happened as Taelina's companion. That smugness, lack of compassion, he was hearing it all from Mist.

"Don't worry, it will all work out in time. We can start with a treatment. Come on, if you are related, then your bloodwork could help," said Betty in a kind voice.

Matt followed her down a corridor and into the lab, a thin man in a labcoat near a computer. "Hey...who's Captain Scrawny?" said Matt.

Betty froze in shock. "Bruce?" she asked in surprised.

The thin man turned to look at her and said pleasantly, "Hello Betty. I've been reading up on your work. You've made quite a lot of progress."

"Wait...that's Banner? I thought he was in permanent Hulk mode," said Matt in confusion, looking at his wristcomp.

"Things have changed since then," said Banner, "Particularly because of a certain Igor Drenkov. It's not a perfect solution yet. It doesn't take much to change me back into the Hulk, but it's not as impossible for me to be me."

Matt smiled at that. "So, the two best gamma scientists in the damn multiverse. I'm actually feeling good about our chances now," he said, shifting to human.

"I wouldn't get ahead of ourselves," said Banner, "There's still a few unknown variables. I'm afraid I'm just as clueless about magic as Betty is."

"I've seen this stuff. It's nasty but not incurable," said Matt with a sigh, adding, "I don't know how it can manifest here. It doesn't work outside its homeworld...usually."

"In most cases, gamma mutations release the person's id," said Betty, "What was your sister like before she was mutated?"

Matt paused before saying darkly, "She spent almost a decade as the top general for a psychotic napoleon complex warlord against her will."

Then he added in a more somber tone, "But, probably more relevant to her current condition, she's spent over three years on a barbarian world without memories. She adapted very well to it.

"When we found her, she was part of a...mercenary guild, is the best to describe it and she ended up joining their little werewolf cult. THEN we ended up in the realm of the patron god of werewolves," said Matt, his temper starting up and his eyes glowing lupine for a second.

"Mhm, go on," said Betty, writing it down.

"Wait...I just admitted we met the literal god of the hunt...and you're not fitting me for one of those special jackets that tie the arms behind the back?" said Matt in confusion.

"My boyfriend turns into the Hulk," said Betty pointedly.

Matt and Bruce both looked surprised at that, Matt clearing his throat. "O...ok then. Well, in the realm we both got infected...and both turned into what were called royal werewolves. Kinda like the god guy's best of the best. I...ahem...got infected by his daughter...and...well, you don't wanna hear that part..." said Matt nervously.

"Noted," said Betty in a dry tone.

"Hah, I sense doubt. I knew it. You _do_ think I'm nuts...wait a minute," said Matt cheerfully, before frowning.

"You got lucky with the daughter of the god of werewolves?" asked Betty dryly.

"No, she took a liking to me after I tried to incinerate her in self-defence," said Matt, adding, "She has issues...really big issues."

* * *

In a dimension not that far away, Taelina sat up. "What is it?" asked Fenris.

"I'm not sure...but I have the urge to bite Matt," said Taelina, "And not in a romantic way."

"Well, we'll be seeing him soon. I'll even hold him in place," said Fenris kindly, Taelina grinning toothily.

* * *

Matt shuddered at that, saying in a faint voice, "I sense pain and fur in my future..." with a distant look. Bruce looked concerned and waved a hand in front of him, to no reaction, before Matt suddenly snapped to sense. "Bleh...anyhow, It wasn;t exactly by choice. She twisted my personality up like a damn pretzel till I was snapped to my senses. I'm technically probably still a carrier," he said as if he hadn't zoned out a few minutes earlier.

"Interesting..." said Betty, "Could I take a blood sample?"

"By all means...one second," said Matt, pressing a few buttons, a small voice saying "Nanites in blood test mode."

Betty and Bruce gave Matt odd looks. "There are certain things in my blood you do not want on your planet," explained Matt.

Betty took the blood over, making a slide and peering, and frowning. Several small squid-like machines were visible under the microscope, though they were clearly self-destructing. What concerned her was that they matched the samples Dr. Zai had brought over from Japan.

"Is there a problem?" asked Bruce

"I'm afraid I can't really confirm whether or not Matt is a carrier," said Betty, "I'd need to compare it with his sister's DNA." She turned to Matt and said, "Also, you have a minor Vitamin C deficiency. You should have more fruits in your diet."

"Lovely," said Matt darkly, adding, "Least it can't get any worse...crap." sighing the last word as he realised what he'd said.

* * *

NegaMorph grumbled as he walked around the snow on the perimeter, yelling "MOOOOORPH!" before his ears picked up flapping wings...and an argument.

"Couldn't have gone inside with everyone else. No...you had to look for penguins," grumbled NegaMorph, "There aren't even any penguins on this end of the Earth."

The argument was getting closer, NegaMorph glaring and headed for them, peering out to see two bird people, a male and female apparently arguing hard. "I told you, once this raid is over, you are getting cured," snapped the male.

"And I say I don't have to be cured if I don't want to be!" snapped the female. NegaMorph noticed the female was dressing a lot skimpier than should be worn in such cold weather...or warm weather for that matter.

"Sara, you don't know what you're saying," said the male desperately.

Sara snapped, "That name, it doesn't really suit..." before she paused.

NegaMorph froze and ducked down. Normally, black would be a very suitable color for stealth, but not in a snowy wasteland. He silently cursed, remembering what Matt had said about Megan's new hobby. These were clearly two of her experiments and there was really only one place to raid.

He turned to ready a shadow portal out and was nose to beak with the female who smiled and jammed her claws into his chest, ice spreading rapidly from the contact. "Spying's rude," she said with a cold smile.

"Wait...he looks familiar..." said the male.

"Oh please, he's just a spy," snapped Sara, grinning more evilly at Nega as he finished freezing solid, before she span and kicked him, shattering him, "Like you said, we have a raid..."

"Let's get it over with," said the male.

* * *

The few turrets placed were torn apart by a mix of wind blades and ice shards that Sara seemed able to cast with a wave of her wings. "This is too easy," she laughed.

"Even heroes know not to say 'it's too easy'," said Falcore.

"Oh Falcore, you worry too much," laughed Sara in the same birdsong tone that sent a not-unpleasant shiver down Falcore's spine.

"I think I'm worried enough as we're attacking a top-secret, heavily-guarded base, Sara," said Falcore.

"That's not my name..." snapped Sara, before a red orb knocked her flying, Falcore looking down to see not all the staff were running, several pulling out some sort of rifles and opening fire.

"Who's running this place anyways?" asked Falcore before throwing razor-sharp feathers at the shooters.

"Who cares?" laughed Sara, firing a beam from her palm at a trio, freezing them solid before sending a hail of ice shards at several more. "This is laughable," she giggled, before she yelped, flying up to dodge a thrown snowmobile.

"Hey, who threw...oh, you've got to be kidding me," said Sara.

"I don't know who you are, but you picked the wrong place to attack," called Red Hulk.

One of the shooters said into his com, "Agent Zai, gamma mutate just turned up. Who do we shoot?"

Agent Zai snapped, "Help the mutate, cut the birds in half. I'm going for the target." The guy nodded, waving to his fellows before they began firing again.

* * *

10 minutes earlier...

Meanwhile, the other Smashers were helping themselves in the cafeteria. "I don't like this," grumbled Red Hulk.

"Yeah, not as great as Gamma Burgers," said A-Bomb, "But a Hulk's gotta eat."

"Not that, Jones," said Red, "Banner being alone with Betty. It makes my skin crawl."

Matt, munching on a sandwich, said in an offhand tone, "Oh grow up. This isn't the prom. Trust us, we know. They're adults."

"Yeah, a modern woman is allowed to show interest in a..." stared She-Hulk before pausing as she noticed a white-haired guy sitting at one of the tables. "Cute guy," she finished.

Matt looked over, sniffing. "Werewolf," he muttered.

"Hey, I think I know that guy," said Red.

"How many white-haired werewolves have you known?" asked A-Bomb dubiously.

"Nah, that's JJJ's kid, the astronaut," said Red.

"J...J...That's familiar...wait, JJJ as in Jameson?" said Matt, perking up at that.

"Yeah, the loudmouth who has it out for the Big Guy almost as much as Spider-Man," said A-Bomb.

"Oh, the jerk," said Matt abscently, getting the white-haired man's attention.

"You know, I wish people wouldn't keep associating me with him," said Jameson with a growl, "We don't have that much in common."

Matt shrugged. "You could at least try to tell your old man to cool his thrusters," he said, throwing the last of his meal in his mouth.

"We're...not really on speaking terms," said Jameson, "Dad wasn't that grateful when Spider-Man saved my life, considering I ended up a freak."

Matt blinked. "And just when I thought he couldn't go lower," he muttered, before a boom was heard, a siren heard. "Hmm...looks like the 'how hard could it be' a whole hour to manifest. The Fates must be ill," Matt muttered icily.

"Finally some action," said Red before throwing back the rest of his food, "Jones, you ready to go?"

"Ready." said A-Bomb, his cameras hovering down.

Matt glared as one started following him, before sighing, "I'll go make sure Miss Ross and Banner are Ok."

"I better come with you," said She-Hulk before turning to Jameson, "How about you, JJ? You in?"

"The more the merrier," said Matt, taking out a spare blaster and tossing it to Jameson. "I assume NASA recruits from the Air Force here," he said .

* * *

Agent Zai walked down a corridor, three of his men, disguised as technical crew, with him. "No witnesses...set to stun," he said in a dark tone, adding, "Lynch is the exception. Blow his head off."

"Isn't he supposed to be the live capture?" asked one of his men.

"Command isn't here and there's no way he'll come quietly..." snapped Zai, the group turning the corner to see Matt, with two of the locals.

"Oh son of a-" he began, before Zai snapped "BLAST THAT DAMN MERC!"

Of course, Matt had been called that so many times, he responded to it as well as to his own name. "Down!" yelled Matt, pulling Jameson to cover.

The new blasts were knocking far larger holes than expected, even forcing She-Hulk back as she shielded herself with her arms. Matt peered out and fired a plasma orb, which impacted harmlessly, the vaporized inch of clothing revealing... "Ashen armor? Ok...now I know why there was a delay. Those jerks wanted to make my life even worse." before he glared at Jameson. "What is this? Spectator day? Shoot!" he snapped, peering out to see Zai taking a step backwards and nipping down a side corridor.

"This...this was a mistake..." said Jameson, his blaster shaking in his hand.

"This is not a good time for PTSD!" snapped Matt. "Not...shellshock..." said Jameson, his voice getting more growly.

Matt blinked as he noticed fur growing. "No, bad astronaut," he said in a panic, trying to back up, looking through his gear, "Come on. This better bloody work."

Another blast bounced off of She-Hulk's Gamma Gauntlets, which knocked her back a bit. "Guys, I could use a little help," she called.

"Oh...you wanna babysit the werewolf?" snapped Matt, pulling out an orb. "Not that," he said, throwing it down the corridor, where it began to roll by itself, stopping when it bounced up and attached to one of the trooper's chestplate, blowing him to pieces. "HA HAAAA!" he said, holding up a bracelet, covered in dust, turning to be nose to snout with a white wolf man in gold armor. "Hello," he said, trying to clamp it to his wrist.

The wolf snarled and tried to slash at Matt. Matt screamed, the two grappling, as Matt managed to clamp the inhibitor on. "Inhibitor activated...error: 22% efficiency only," it said.

"BAD...DOGGY...HAVE A FACE FULL OF DRAGON!" snapped Matt, headbutting the wolf man, to its surprise more than its pain. "I'm giving a chance to think properly. I've dealt with werewolves bigger than you," said Matt.

The wolf snarled before snapping "Wherrrre...ammmm...I?" in a slow voice, like someone who had not spoken for a long time.

Matt blinked, before he, with effort, pushed the wolf's head to peer at the last two troopers and he said childishly, "They did it."

The troopers looked at one another before one snapped, "That's a load of smeg."

The wolf growled before charging at the troopers. Matt covered his eyes as the wolf grabbed one of the troopers, ignoring the blaster fire before cracking their heads together and throwing them up the corridor, before looking down at the blaster. "I don't think so." snapped Matt, grabbing his own blaster.

The wolf turned to glare at him and She-Hulk. "Are...yoooou enemies toooo?" he managed, his speech getting better.

"We're friends of John Jameson," said She-Hulk.

"Weak..." snarled the wolf.

Matt glared. "Hey...speak nice to the lady," he snapped.

The wolf sneered, his hand going to part of his armor before throwing a small dagger that jammed Matt's blaster. "It didn't work for them," he smirked coldly.

"Who are you anyways?" asked Matt.

The wolf paused before he said darkly "My name is irrelevant." with a tad of uncertainty, before he sniffed the air and growled. "You have two of _his_ here?"

"Whose?" asked She-Hulk.

"The great enemy..." snarled the wolf, before charging down the corridor...towards the cells.

"Oh shit, I think I know who he means. Go collar him. I'm going after their boss," said Matt, charging after Zai.

* * *

Mist didn't look up as the door to the containment cells was kicked in. "Normal mortals knock," she said, not looking up from the book she'd been given by one of the staff.

"Hounds of Hircine, you have no place here," growled the Man-Wolf as he stalked into the prison.

"Oh, I know that voice...and I was sure my brother left you headless," said Mist, putting her book down carefully and standing up, "Claw is next door if you want to talk to him. But he's having trouble with his host so don't expect an interesting conversation."

"So you don't even have the courage to return here in your own bodies," growled the Man-Wolf.

"Well, you did tear it to pieces," said Mist, adding, "My lord did not see a reason to reward the loss of 500 of his souls."

The Man-Wolf sniffed before saying, "You stink of something. Something that the green giantess had."

"Oh...some magic the humans here call Gamma. I was stuck in this bitch's head since her and her brother wandered into the Hunting Grounds. But of course the princess took a liking to his brother so Hircine blessed her. It took that exposure to gain control," said Mist, looking at her reflection, "Not a bad choice."

"Enjoy that body while you can because I will be removing you from it," snarled the Man-Wolf.

"Oh, and how are you going to do that? Chop my head off? I'm not the only one using it, remember?" sneered Mist.

"He won't do that." laughed the wolf, apparently Claw, in the other cell, "Like he hesitated all those centuries ago. Was it fun in that soul gem? Must have been utter torture. All alone on the moon as we massacred your people."

"It does make me wonder how you're here now," said Mist, "The moon is not a place that mortals should be able to access."

"A human found my gem and your foul magic put me in him. I went mad there. I was little more than an animal," snapped Man-Wolf, slamming his fists against Claw's cell.

Claw laughed. "Oh, I think I struck a nerve, beloved," he sneered.

"Here's some news for you: you are an animal," sneered Mist, "Not even worthy of the Hunting Grounds. Even if I would like to throw you to our lord's..." Just then, the part of the wall that Mist was leaning her hand on turned into a small portal. Mist stumbled a bit at the sudden lack of physical support.

She pulled her hand free just in time before grinning. "Well...this gamma is a good stand-in for daedric magic," she sneered to herself, before looking with a smug look at Man-Wolf, "I'll need some more of course."

"You know not what you're toying with," said Man-Wolf.

"I know that Hircine would love to have his daughter-in-law back, even if the mating was cancelled. And now I know a way out this cell..." said Mist, pressing her hands to the glass and phasing them through before pulling Man-Wolf into the charged glass, electrocuting him _and_ shorting both cells out. "And I know you still cannot best me," she sneered, kicking Man-Wolf before, with concentration, summoning her mace, getting ready to bring it down on his head when a green hand grabbed her wrist.

"That's far enough," said She-Hulk.

"She is fairly tall, even for an orc," commented Claw, "Very fair for one too."

Mist snarled at that before pulling her hand free. "Get away from my mate, beast," she snapped, swinging her mace at She-Hulk.

"Beast? Look who's talking," said She-Hulk before ducking and kicking out.

Mist yelped as she was knocked flying, She-Hulk turning just in time to avoid a daedric broadsword from beheading her, given how it sliced through the wall with little effort. "And nobody touches my beloved," growled Claw, before jumping back and throwing a fireball.

"Remind me when this is over to look up whatever roleplaying game you're playing," said She-Hulk as she punched the fireball away from her.

"Oh that wasn't an attack," sneered Claw, before Mist jumped on She-Hulk's back and cast a draining spell, Mist looking confused when the usual red energy of enemy vitality was instead green.

"I'm supposed to be draining your health, not your stamina," said Mist. Her eyes widened a second later and she moaned. She'd tapped into the beast's magic...the...gamma...it was filling her and it was wonderful. She could feel her magic increasing by the second.

"Love, are you ok?" said Claw with concern.

"Better than ever," said Mist, her eyes glowing a brighter green, "This she-orc is brimming with gamma magicka."

"Get...off...me..." snapped She-Hulk, wincing with each drain.

"Let me have a taste," said Claw.

"Don't be an idiot. It'll poison you," said Mist, adding "She's almost dry anyway." releasing She-Hulk.

Claw looked at Mist and said, "My love, you are glowing."

"Yes, I am feeling vigorous right now," saida Mist.

"No, I mean you're actually glowing," said Claw.

"What are you blabbering about?" snapped Mist, pointing a finger and seeing her fur was indeed glowing. "Oh dear...maybe I overdid it?" she said, "Apparently she wasn't an Orc after all," said Mist.

"What about the Orc?" asked Claw, smirking, adding "We could use some cannon fodder when we escape this place."

"Don't waste your time or the gift," said Mist, "We've got to find more of this gamma magicka."

"And somewhere to cast. That's technology...and she has it, I dread to think what the humans have," said Claw, looking at the Gamma Gauntlets with concern.

A crash was heard at that, Mist and Claw sniffing the air. "Gamma..." Mist said almost hungrily, to Claw's concern. She was the only thing holding him to this body. The last thing he wanted before they got home was for her to get herself killed from a feeding frenzy...and she was gone. He turned to see her running, following a sign marked 'exit'.

"By the light," he muttered, running after her.

* * *

"What's going on?" asked Betty into the intercom. A few screens showed some sort of bird thing attacking the staff that had come with Dr Zai...and they were heavily armed.

"The radio tower's not working, doctor. We can't call SHIELD or anyone," came the reply.

Bruce sighed as he took off his glasses. "I was hoping for a little more time to work," he said.

"Be careful, Bruce," said Betty with concern, stepping back.

"I rarely need to be," said Bruce before his eyes started glowing green. He had the foresight to remove all his clothes except his pants, considering how many times those got ripped up. He soon started growing rapidly in size, his muscles expanding as his skin turned green.

"This won't take long," Hulk said with a grin before he carefully went out of the lab before leaping through the roof.

Betty sighed, looking over at a small vat in the corner. Bruce wasn't the only one she wanted to cure. She and her father may not be on proper speaking terms but she wanted him cured...meaning she'd called in quite a few favours to get the rest of the Red Hulk serum. Were they after it?

She heard the door opening again. "That was quick," she said happily, presuming it was Hulk, before turning to see Dr Zai, a futuristic blaster in his hand.

"Dr. Ross, I was hoping to do this in a more...stealthy matter but it seems I've been forced to move my timetable up," he said, walking into the room. "If it means anything, I have no wish to see you or your staff hurt," he added with sincerity.

"Who are you really working for? AIM? Hydra?" asked Betty.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But I assure you, it doesn't concern your planet at all," said Zai, calmly, walking over to a computer and plugging a small stick in, the screen flickering as its security was hacked and everything was downloaded.

"You're with the Kree, aren't you?" asked Betty, "Or the Skrulls. You're getting ready to invade Earth."

"No, my employers just want a weapon. Earth does not interest us. This universe does not interest us," sneered Zai before pointing at the canister, "_That_ interests us. Please prepare a case for transport or I may be forced to do something drastic. I'm the best tech retrieval agent around."

"Absolutely not," said Betty sternly, "I have too much...investment in that research."

"I'm sorry..." said Zai, firing a bolt near to Betty's feet, leaving a hole. "I'm not asking and my patience is wearing thin. So do it or I will do it over your corpse," he said smugly, before noticing Betty's expression change, before he turned, hissing and spitting a yellow liquid into Matts eyes, who fired wildly while keening in pain...till Zai shot him in the chest. "Idiot..." he muttered smugly.

"No!" yelled Betty.

Zai aimed his blaster at Betty. "Such concern for others," said Zai mockingly, "You ought to have been a nurse. Now...serum...NOW!" He walked up and pushing the blaster into her face. "Unless you want your friend, Banner, to find you a head shorter," he said darkly.

"You have no idea who Bruce is," said Betty.

"One of the first gamma mutates on this planet. A Member of the Avengers and the Agents of SMASH, practically unbeatable in straight battle," said Zai calmly, watching as Betty backed up. "Yes, we know all about you, now make the serum…" he began before pausing, hearing a groan from Matt, "Or you can watch me take off limbs till he stops screaming."

As Betty began to, reluctantly, prepare some tubes of the serum, Zai noticed something in a cabinet, walking over and seeing a row of blood samples. "Hmm," he said, doing a scan.

"Gamma sample confirmed...viability 100%" said his wrist comp, Zai's eyes narrowing.

"You don;t happen to have...any samples, from mutates, do you?" he asked calmly.

"I'm afraid that's doctor-patient confidentiality," said Betty.

"That's as good as No. Such a shame...if you'd been honest…" said Zai, turning and aiming at Betty.

"You can't be serious. Those samples were only taken so I could cure Bruce," said Betty. "And they're perfectly viable," said Zai calmly, looking at one of the samples. "Hmm...I wonder if this is even real?" he said sarcastically, before grabbing Betty by the arm.

"Are you crazy? Even you have to know the dangers of exposing other people to contaminated blood, gamma-irradiated or not," said Betty.

"I'm seeing this as testing the product," said Zai with an evil grin, injecting her in the shoulder before stepping back. "Now then, Hulks are supposed to be invincible," he said, aiming at Betty, before pulling the trigger, just as Matt's eyes slowly opened.

He heard the gunshot and the sound of breaking glass. Then Zai cursed in an alien tongue. "Stupid mammal," he snapped, "You had to knock that over, didn't you?"

Matt turned to see Betty on the ground, smoke rising. "You..." he growled, his eyes sharpening to slits before he lunged at Zai, biting down on the arm holding the blaster, neatly severing it before throwing him across the room.

"Clearly I should have prioritized your death first," said Zai. Matt tilted his head, Zai looking at his stump of an arm. "Oh, I had my pain centers burnt out years ago," said Zai conversationally, reaching with his other hand for his backup.

Matt snarled and lunged, knocking the blaster aside and putting his hands on either side of Zai's head. "You killed her in cold blood...you small..." he snarled, Zai starting to yelp, his head making cracking noises as Matt began to push his hands together, "weak...small-minded...MURDERER!" Matt roared, Zai screaming before it was cut off as Matt...brought his hands together with a squelch noise before letting the new-headless body drop and collapse into dust.

Matt then turned around to look at Betty. She didn't look well as she was lying in a growing red puddle. But then Matt noticed the puddle wasn't just her blood. There was a broken container lying right next to her and he could smell something a lot stronger than iron.

He padded forward carefully, sniffing before seeing the blast had also hit the canister which was leaking on her. He also couldn't smell any injury. He reached out carefully and gently shook her. "Dr Ross? This might be a shock. But it's just me, Lazard," he said carefully.

"Lazard...I don't feel so good," said Betty weakly as her eyes started to glow green.

Matt backed up. "Oh, that's a healthy green glow you have. I'm gonna find some anti-rad treatment," said Matt quickly, loping over to the coolers.

"No," said Betty, "That shot...the gamma might be my only chance."

Matt paused. "Are you nutso? Even the medical computer said it was thousands to one it wouldn't just kill you," he snapped.

"That formula isn't just any gamma formula," said Betty, "It's what changed my father." She was actually starting to sound stronger.

Matt blinked, his body noticing the rising heat. "Erm...I think you need some cure immediately," he said carefully, adding "Which cabinet is it in?" nervously, wincing as he tore a cabinet door off its hinges. "That'll buff out," he said with a gulp.

"It's too late for that," said Betty, the air starting to shimmer around her, "The serum is unstable. I need a catalyzing force to push the change through or I'm going to explode."

"Great," said Matt dourly, "And where are we going to find such a force?"

"About three labs over," said Betty.

"Three labs over...how long before you explode?" asked Matt.

"At my current rate of temperature rising, probably 10 minutes," said Betty before looking at Matt properly. It was then she noticed that his arms were covered in blood and tiny bits of what looked like grey matter.

"Uh, I can explain," said Matt.

Betty groaned and bent over as the temperature rose higher. "Better make that 5..." she groaned.

Matt grabbed her, plopping her on his back before asking "Which way?" he asked, before snapping "Which way? You don't have time to follow the signs." after she didn't respond. Betty weakly pointed in one direction.

"Send the bill to Fury." said Matt, opening his mouth and breathing white hot, blue tinged flames at the wall, melting it and the cabinets in front to slag in seconds, before walking through.

* * *

The last wall took slightly longer, but as soon as it was down, Matt's eyes shot open to pinpricks. A dragon was, as Draco could tell anyone, very mana sensitive, and Matt suddenly felt the best he'd ever felt, his eyesight shooting to such quality that it was like he'd been blind a second ago. Sitting in the middle of the room was a glowing blue cube, the magic emanating from that. "What...what is that?" asked Matt.

"It's called the Tesseract," said Betty, "It's a cosmic energy source as well as an energy amplifier."

Matt shrugged Betty off his back before slowly walking towards it. It seemed to be calling to him, promising him everything he wanted. The power to cure the Virk plague, reignite Kala's core, put Lumina in her place...all he had to do was take it.

"Hey!" snapped Betty. Matt blinked, remembering she was there. "There's a reason we keep it locked up in a shielded room instead of using it to solve the world's energy problem," said Betty.

Matt shook his head, giving a low keen of panic. The last vision he'd happily accepted had shown him on a throne… "You shoulda dropped that fucking thing in a black hole," he said in a weak voice.

"There have been some evidence that the Tesseract may be self-aware..." started Betty before wincing, "I need to get closer..."

"No...No...that thing's eviiiiiiaaah!" snapped Matt, yelping as Betty effortlessly pushed his hand aside to walk towards it.

"No, I mean I actually need to get closer," said Betty, "The Tesseract needs to be in closer proximity to-" Just then, the Tesseract glowed brighter and shot a beam into Betty's chest.

"NOITDOESN'T!" yelped Matt, jumping aside.

Betty grunted as she started growing. Her shoes were the first to go as her feet ripped through. Her pants were ripping up as her legs became longer and more muscular. Her blouse was shredded as her figure became grew muscular and curvier. Her hair grew longer and black with two red streaks as her skin turned a bright red.

Matt glared at the Tesseract before snapping in Avalarian, _"That's enough you tiny blue rubix cube!"_ The beam cut off and Matt got the feeling that somehow, despite eyeless, it was glaring at him before he was blasted into the wall.

Matt's eyes spun as he felt energy tickling his teeth and his left eye. Then he heard Betty's voice say, "Lazard, are you alright?"

Matt's eyes found their focus and looked up at the new gamma mutate. "Wow, you look like a red She-Hulk," said Matt.

As unimaginative as it was, it wasn't a bad description. Betty did resemble a palate-swapped version of She-Hulk, though her eyes were more like Red Hulk's. "Well, I may as well start calling myself that," said Betty as she offered Matt a hand.

Matt took the hand and yelped as he was helped up with apparent ease...and given he weighed close to a ton in his current full dragon form, that was impressive. "Well, you got the strength," said Matt, shaking his head before shifting to hybrid form.

"I really do," said Betty, flexing her thicker arm, "I've never felt so much energy. I hope Bruce and the others haven't fought off all those intruders yet. I want some of that action."

"That might not be a wise idea given the state of your attire," said Matt, point at Betty. Her blouse and pants had barely survive her transformation and were revealing a lot of skin. It probably wouldn't take a lot for them to give out completely.

"Huh, I guess I do need a new outfit. I wonder if Jen has anything I can wear, we look to be the same size. Where is she?"

Matt's eyes widened. "Oh crap..." he muttered, running for the door, pausing to blast it off its hinges.

"You didn't have to do that," called Betty, pointing to the holes he'd made earlier.

"Where I am going, there is no time for doorhandles," called Matt as he ran towards the cells. Betty sighed before jogging after him. She really hoped she'll find something to cover herself better.

For a moment there was silence before some barrels at the back of the room moved and Mist and Claw poked their heads out. "Why didn't you drain her?" asked Claw.

"She's clearly going nuts. I'm not sticking my drain spells in the crazy and giving Sheogorath an excuse. Besides, that is a far more worthy prize," said Mist, looking at the Tesseract.

"That thing? It's a paperweight," snapped Claw.

Mist slapping the back of his head. "No, it's a fuel source. We could actually complete the quest father sent us on," she said, walking towards arms outstretched.

There was a hum of energy in the air and Claw's fur actually stood on in. "Mist, perhaps you shouldn't be so direct," said Claw.

"Oh, don't be a ba-" began Mist, before a blast of energy shot into her mouth and eyes.

Claw could barely stand the amount of power coming from the cube. "Mist, get away from that!" he called, "You can't handle that much power!"

The light finally ceased, Mist staggering back, before she began laughing. "Now that's MAGIC!" she laughed insanely. Her eyes were glowing a brighter green as she started growing taller.

"Mist, you can't take in that much magic," said Claw.

"We're royals, Claw. We can store as much as we wa-OW!" she snapped as her head hit the ceiling. "Ok...maybe a little too much," she muttered, sighing when she saw her clothing had grown too. That...would have been awkward.

Claw sighed and said, "Like always, you just can't stop eating until you can't fit through the doors."

Mist glared at that and leaned down. "Did you just call me FAT?" she snarled.

"Uh...no. You're just...awkwardly-sized," said Claw nervously.

Mist started to shrink down to normal size as her body finished absorbing, her armor turning to a daedric armor, her past armor. "Oh...I feel like a newly born royal again," she said, before looking around and sticking her hand into the air. _"Father...father, I have returned,"_ she thought in her head, only opening the portal enough to communicate for now.

The shadow of an antlered figure appeared in the portal. "Bloodmist, I was wondering where you have disappeared to," said a voice on the other end, "You are so far away I can barely hear you."

"My brother and I were stopped after the traitors destroyed our packs. Only one remains and he remembers little. I have found enough power to open a portal to bring your hunt to this earth," said Bloodmist calmly.

"Really? You were to fight to the death and yet you speak to me," said the figure, Claw and Bloodmist yelping as they were forced onto their chests by a crushing force.

"We...found...new bodies...we will not...fail..." managed Bloodmist, the pressure being released after a minute.

"We will see. Succeed and bring that body you wear home...and you will be rewarded," the figure said.

Claw made a small whimper. There were not many royal werewolves known to have failed...because few knew about what happened to them. "Yes, Father. I shall accomplish both," said Bloodmist.

The portal closed with the figure saying "See that you do not..."

"Beloved, you know I support you...but ARE YOU NUTS? We had an army last time! This time it's just us!" snapped Claw, shaking Mist.

"Maybe it should just be me," growled Bloodmist.

"What are you saying?" asked Claw with worry.

"I have the gamma magicka and can channel a limitless supply of power from this cube. What can you contribute?" asked Bloodmist.

"My love...what are you saying?" said Claw, reaching carefully behind to an orb on his leather armor. They had both been werewolf hunters before Hircine had enlightened them...but he always kept a few.

"I'm the one who can actually accomplish this mission and all you've been doing is doubting me," said Bloodmist.

"The wise hunter is careful after being hurt. We've already died on this world once," said Claw angrily.

"Last time I wasn't a living reservoir of power. As far as I can see, the only reason I'm keeping you right now it so I can have something between my-" started Bloodmist.

The roof began to ice up at that, the two looking up to see two slashes in an x appear on the ice before the roof caved in, Falcore and Sara landing. "I think we lost...oh come on," snapped Falcore, looking at the two surprised wolves.

"What have we here?" asked Bloodmist, "A pair of lost birds?"

"What do we have here? A pair of mutts?" mocked Sara, Falcore glaring.

"You know, Claw, I don't think I've had anything to eat since taking this body and raw energy doesn't fill a stomach," said Bloodmist, "I think a pair of roast pheasants would do the trick."

"What did you call me?" said Sara in a low voice, her eyes starting to glow.

Falcore gave Claw a beleaguered look and asked, "Is your girlfriend as power hungry as mine?"

Claw paused, summoning his sword. "Well, you know how it is. Now hold still," he said, charging Falcore who took off to avoid the first lunge.

"I didn't come all this way just to be dogmeat," said Falcore.

"Tough. My beloved is right. We need to HUNT!" Claw laughed, throwing a few knives that Falcore destroyed with a wingblade.

Sara and Bloodmist meanwhile were circling, Sara noticing a tiny portal. "Oh...is that your exit? Don't let the planet hit you in your...desperately oversized butt on the way out," Sara taunted.

"_My_ butt is oversized?" laughed Bloodmist, "Look at yourself. I'm surprised you can walk upright with those giant eggs on your chest."

"At least they suit me, blondie," said Sara smugly, Bloodmist's eye twitching before she snarled.

"Does she even realize what 'blondie' means?" asked Falcore.

"I think she has an idea," said Claw.

Falcore turned in time to see Bloodmist lunge at Sara who flew up, the two males watching before, without looking away, sat down on a crate next to one another. "Shouldn't we be fighting?" asked Claw in an aimless voice.

Falcore shrugging, "Yeah." the two continuing to watch.

* * *

Meanwhile Man-Wolf was starting to come to. His revival was hastened when someone picked him up by the scruff of the neck. He shook the stars from his vision to be nose to nose with Hulk. "What did you do to my cousin?" growled Hulk.

Man-wolf managed, "What? Who?"

"Jen, you ok?" asked A-Bomb, crouching next to She-Hulk.

"Yeah...I think so. I feel like I went several rounds with Galactus though," grumbled She-Hulk.

"This mutt has a lot of explaining to do..." Hulk growled at Man-Wolf before She-Hulk said "Not that one."

"Yeah, we're a few strays short," said Red Hulk, looking at the empty cells.

The sound of footsteps was heard at that, running ones and a voice going "shitshitshit." before Matt ran in. "Oh thank God," he gasped, panting, another set of running steps heard too.

"Ok, dragon boy, what the heck's goin' on around here?" demanded Red Hulk.

"It's a long story, Dad," said Betty's voice before a red version of She-Hulk wearing ripped clothes walked in, "But I don't think those financiers were from Japan."

There was an awkward silence before Matt said nervously "Surpriiiiiise."

"Betty?" asked Hulk and Red Hulk in shock.

"I kinda had to do an emergency procedure," said Betty, "I wouldn't still be alive if I didn't."

"Erm...I'm gonna go...erm...wash the guy who did it off my claws..." said Matt, looking around for a water fountain.

"Uh...I guess you and Betty will have more in common now," said A-Bomb awkwardly.

Red Hulk glowed hotly as he snapped at A-Bomb, "This ain't funny, Jones! My daughter just turned into a monster!"

Betty glared at that. "Oh that's rich. You never asked how I felt when you got so desperate to catch Bruce that you turned yourself into a 'monster'!" She snapped, doing air quotes with her fingers as she said the last word.

"Betty, turning yourself into a Hulk isn't something-" started Hulk.

"Shut your jade jaw, Banner!" snapped Red.

Betty started blazing red and snapped, "Don't you talk to him like that!"

"Ah...it's so nice to observe family traits like tempers. In this case from behind a plasma shield," said Matt, encased in a glowing field.

"I guess heat radiation runs in your family," said A-Bomb.

"Don't be stupid," snapped Red, "I was mutated with both gamma and cosmic energy..." He paused before turning back to Betty suspiciously, "So where'd you get the cosmic part?"

"The rubix cube from hell? It's somewhere over there," said Matt, thumbing behind him. before noticing Betty's glare "What? I'm not gonna cover for it. It shot me."

"You have the Tesseract here?!" snapped Red, "You could have blown yourself up!"

"Oh, now you care if people could have been blown up," snapped Betty.

"Don't get on your high horse with me, young lady! You're not better than me for Hulkifying yourself!"

"At least I had a decent reason instead of you wanting to butt heads with him personally!"

Hulk glared before yelling "QUIEEET!"

Matt crossed his eyes before he yelled, "I think he wants quiet."

"There's a lot to be said about what's happened, but we got another problem," said Hulk, "We're still missing two werewolves."

"Not to mention those bird guys who attacked the place," said A-Bomb.

"Did you say bird guys?" asked Matt.

"Yeah...you know them?"

Matt paused before making a hologram of Falcore appear. "Did one of them look like this?" he asked.

"Yep, the other one's...well you wouldn't believe it if I told you," said A-Bomb.

"I know enough..." said Matt in a dark tone.

"We still need to find them," said Hulk.

Just then, the lights overhead dimmed and flickered a little. "The Tesseract," said Matt and Betty at the same time.

"You left it unguarded, didn't you?" asked Red Hulk dryly.

Betty and Matt gave him a synchronized glare. "Not helping," said Matt.

* * *

"I'm telling you, 5 septims my mate can beat yours," said Claw, his and Falcore's fight forgotten.

"You know, it's not a completely fair fight," said Falcore.

"How so? Besides the obvious?" asked Claw.

"Well, your mate is wearing heavy armor," said Falcore.

"While your mate is dressed like a serving wench?" teased Claw.

"What?" said Falcore before lunging at Claw.

The fight had done some serious damage to the rest of the room, Sara having to keep her distance to take advantage of Bloodmist's heavy armor. "STAY...STILL...HARPY!" snarled Bloodmist, before an ice beam sent her flying.

"I am not a harpy!" snapped Sara, "My name is...uh...Iceshaide!"

Falcore glared, headbutting Claw before snapping, "3 DAMN HOURS...AND THAT'S THE BEST YOU COME UP WITH?!"

"Oh, like your own name is so original, _Falcore_," said Iceshaide.

"I didn't choose it," said Falcore calmly, Claw lunging and being knocked flying again. Iceshaide turned as Bloodmist lunged again before blasting her with another ice beam in mid air, Bloodmist hitting the ground hard and her daedric armor shattering. Fortunately, Bloodmist was still wearing leather armor under it. "You...you broke my armor!" she snapped.

"Aw, not cold enough where you come from?" asked Iceshaide before sending a blizzard wind at Bloodmist. Bloodmist yelled, covering her face, before sending a shot of lightning into Iceshaide's chest.

Iceshaide screeched before falling to the floor. "They don't have big storms where you come from?" sneered Bloodmist before shooting more lightning.

"NO!" yelled Falcore, lunging at Mist, slashing wildly. A blast of electricity sent Falcore flying back as well.

Even Claw was caught in the bolts as Bloodmist yelled, "ALL OF YOU, WEAK! SOON MY FATHER'S ARMIES WILL TURN THIS PLACE INTO ANOTHER PART OF HIS REALM!" practically screaming with laughter as she sent out more.

"Beloved, aren't you overdoing it a bit?" asked Claw.

"Silence, weakling" snarled Bloodmist, blasting him into the wall, before she aimed and made a slash above the Tesseract, close enough that it would feed the portal itself...just in time as she began to feel dizzy. "I think I...skipped lunch too long..." said Bloodmist dizzily.

"Well done, daughter." said Bloodmist's father's voice from the portal, several sets of eyes appearing in it before a leather-armored wolfman jumped through, an alligator-like one following. "Claim this land," said the voice.

Just then, the Agents of SMASH came through the door. "Uh...what's going on here?" asked A-Bomb.

"Smash now, ask questions later," said Hulk.

"Oh bloody hell," snapped Matt, grabbing a lunging werewolf and snapping its neck, the wolf turning to mist that flowed back into the portal. "Don't hold back. Death is just annoying for these things," he snapped, a cat creature lunging at him.

"Betty, stay back and let Daddy take care of this," said Red.

"And let you have all the fun?" asked Betty, "I'm the Red She-Hulk now."

"Bit of an awkward name," said She-Hulk.

"Just 'Rulkie' will do," said Betty.

A female werewolf, holding a crossbow, jumped down at that, firing its bolt before drawing dual daggers. "FOR THE HUNTSMASTER!" she screamed, charging Betty, only for the dagger to shatter when she stabbed.

"That tickled," said Rulkie before punching the werewolf, "Now I see why you guys like smashing." Before the female werewolf could recover her senses, Rulkie picked her up by the scruff of the neck. Rulkie between herself and the werewolf, comparing their sizes. "Nice outfit," she said to the werewolf, looking at her black leather armor.

* * *

Matt turned, taking the head off one of the attackers as he closed on Bloodmist. "Sister? We need to have words." he snapped.

Bloodmist looked at Matt and said, "I know you. You are the one mortal who has managed to meet Taelina's impossible standards...and then scorn her."

"And you're squatting on someone's brain," said Matt, adding, "Me and Taelina are still friends though."

"Still friends?" asked Bloodmist, perplexed.

"She's found a better mate," said Matt.

"Hmm...well you were worthy of my father's blessing. I can still smell it on you."

Matt's eyes bugged out. "Nope...ew.." he snapped, Bloodmist rolling her eyes before she lunged at Matt

Just then, the Man-Wolf came between them and swung his sword at Bloodmist. "Oh, this is wonderful. A chance to avenge myself on you, Zanek," she laughed, exchanging blows with him.

"Zanek?" asked Matt, perplexed. Just then, he got knocked to the other side of the room. He got back up and snapped, "Ok, who did that?"

Claw landed at that. "You're mine, traitor. You spurned your father after the princess bought you in," he snarled.

"Look, I don't know how your family system works, but I am not anything of Hircine's," said Matt.

"Once a Royal of Hircine, always a Royal of Hircine," snarled Claw, lunging. Matt rolled his eyes before kicking him...somewhere saw that got a pained high pitched "YIP!" Claw going cross-eyed.

"Sorry about that, Chris," said Matt before pausing and admitting, "Ok, not really."

"I hate mortals," whimpered Claw before deciding to stay still.

Matt turned before twitching. He could actually see grass forming around the cube, Hircine's realm leaking in...and he had no wish to be the 'perfect catch' for any of Taelina's sisters if there were any. "That thing's gotta go," he muttered, looking around for Hulk or Betty...someone who could tell him how to destroy that thing.

Matt walked over, stepping over a shivering werewolf. "Excuse me, Betty?" asked Matt. Red She-Hulk turned to face Matt, backhanding another werewolf as she did so. "Nice outfit," said Matt.

The black leather armor did suit her new body, even if it left her midriff exposed and had a low neckline. "Yeah, it's snugger than I thought it would be," said Red She-Hulk.

"Where'd you get it?" asked Matt. "From her," said Red She-Hulk, pointing at the werewolf Matt stepped over.

Matt winced. "Oooooh... Naaaasty..." he said, before, ever the gentleman, he helped the shivering wolf up and pointed at the portal, the werewolf about to snarl before whimpering and trying to make herself look smaller. "Anyways, that portal's going to bind the Earth to another dimension," said Matt, "Any way to turn off the Tesseract?."

"No, the last one SHIELD messed with blew up an entire base, with no way to turn it off," said Betty.

Matt blasted a werewolf coming up behind her. "Dragons are tough. I've been hit with worse. What if I eat it?" he asked, adding, "It's not the best idea but it's that or I take it on a trip to the Hunting Grounds and...I dunno what that might do to some of my old friends."

"Ok, even if that were a viable strategy, which I'm not approving of, you'd need a way to get through all those beast men to get to the Tesseract in the first place," said Red She-Hulk. Just then, another wall exploded inwards, causing the fighting to temporarily stop. Everyone looked to see NegaMorph glaring and panting. "I...am...ANGRY!" he yelled, a red aura erupting around him.

The wave shot out, the werecreatures pausing what they were doing before snarling at each other. "Good timing, Nega. GET THE CUBE!" called Matt, running for the Tesseract.

Bloodmist snarled at NegaMorph and snapped, "Whatever sort of foul demon you are, you will not-" However, that just made her the subject of NegaMorph's incredible ire. He leapt at Bloodmist and started savagely attacking her, bite, scratching, ripping out handfuls of fur.

"Gah! Get it off! CLAAAAW!" she screamed. The Agents and Matt ran at the cube, monsters trying to block them and a fresh second wave coming through, before Matt paused, a distant look in his gold eyes. _"Son...you don't want to do this,"_ said a voice in his head.

The shadowy antlered figure could be seen in the portal. "Submit, mortals," said the figure, "Be grateful I am more merciful than my brothers. All shall have a chance to prove themselves predator or prey. The call of the Hunt shall be heard by all."

Betty turned to see Matt was on his knees with a dazed look, his scales turning to silvery grey fur, the figure's eyes focussed on him as it said, "I believe my daughter's mate should awaken again."

Betty glared before running for the cube. She was about to smash the cube when a voice said, "Hey there." She looked down to see a white blob. "I'm Morph," he said.

"Where did he come from?" asked the figure, sounding just as surprised as the others.

"I'm Morph. Everyone says not to question it," Morph said happily before he looked at the Tesseract. "This is a job for a professional," he said, grabbing it and swallowing it in one gulp.

Bloodmist said, "No...no, no, NO!"

The figure turned to look at her, the portal starting to close. "Bloodmist...I believe we should have words." Bloodmist stared before she and Claw began screaming, a bluish mist coming out their mouths before going through the portal before he looked at Matt. "Another time." before he looked in the Agents' direction. "You have provided an...interesting hunt," he said, laughing as the portal closed, the werecreatures disappearing with it.

There was a long pause before A-Bomb, "Ok, what the heck was that all about?"

NegaMorph, who had cooled down for the moment, said, "It's a long story. But first, where'd those birdbrains flew off to?"

* * *

"Ok...Ice shade..." said Falcore scathingly.

"It's Iceshaide," snapped iceshaide.

Falcore continued, "What do we tell the boss? We failed to get that damn cube." The two were flying through the skies.

"She's not the one who wanted it. The space lizard did," said Iceshaide.

"Oh, he can get bent then," said Falcore, he and Iceshaide laughing.

* * *

"Ok, invasion of werebeasts from another dimension stopped, crisis averted, right?" asked Red Hulk.

Man-Wolf sniffed and said, "No...one remains..." He strode over to some storage crates before reaching down and pulling out the female werewolf Betty had mugged

The werewolf screamed, "Get off...by the Nine where am I?"

Man-Wolf growled at that, snapping "Who are you?"

The werewolf looked at him and got a goofy grin. "Anybody you want me to be, hunk," she said in a sultry voice, giving a happy little howl.

"You've got to be kidding me," said She-Hulk flatly.

"Well...she's not trying to kill us," said Matt, the werewolf looking down at herself and screaming about 'monsters'. "Yeah, I don't think she remember anything after Hircine got her," said Matt with a wince.

"Well, I don't think we can send her back home," said Betty, "And I'm suddenly a lot more short-staffed."

"Honey, you're not having a mon-" said Red Hulk before Betty glared at him.

"She's homeless and scared," she said warningly.

"She probably doesn't know the first thing about science," said Red Hulk.

"Neither does Skarr but you still keep him around," said Betty before pausing, "Where is Skarr anyways?"

"He's...on a journey of self-discovery with some trusted friends," said Hulk.

* * *

One dimensional slip away...

Asgard

Skarr was indeed learning new things...how much food and drink he could handle at an Asgardian feast. "CHUG! CHUG!" chanted some of the warriors as he downed yet another stein.

* * *

"Did anyone else feel a shudder?" said Matt, the female looking at her before falling to her knees gibbering in Norn. "Erm...no need to...I'm gonna kill Hircine one day..." he muttered darkly.

"Isn't Hircine immortal?" asked NegaMorph.

"Yes...but I try HARDER!" snapped Matt.

"Uh-huh. Well, Chloe's still an extra-large golden werewolf and Morph has eaten the power cosmic," said NegaMorph.

Morph was flying around the room going 'weeeeeee', his stomach glowing blue.

"NegaMorph, if making him fly is the worst it does, I'll be happy to wait till we...retrieve the cube," sighed Matt, before he looked at the female werewolf who was cooing over Man-Wolf again. "How are you gonna get Jameson out of there?"

"Jameson? Yes, he's still in here. Most of him is here," said Man-Wolf, "There's not much of Zanek left. Mostly just memories of his last hunt, what his powers and skills are."

"You know. You could help at SHIELD. Maybe try meeting Spider-Man properly" said Matt, the female snarling at Matt for a second. "And bring your girlfriend..." he said nervously.

"Maybe...maybe..." said Man-Wolf before clutching his head. Rings of light passed over him and he reverted back to John. "I've got a lot of things to work out first," he said.

The werewolf looked saddened at that before she whispered, "You're still handsome." with a smirk at Jameson.

* * *

When Chloe woke up, it was with a groan. She felt like she had been attacked by a mob of angry cats. And the inside of her head didn't feel better. The last thing she remembered was feeling...angry...oh so angry before something else had taken over. The rest seemed like a dream.

"Where am I?" she said, yelping as she covered her mouth. Her voice sounded like an invite to a night out. She lowered her eyes to see a familiar snout...though the fur colour was off. "The hell happened?" she muttered.

"Well, Chloe, the good news is that you're not a dinosaur anymore," said Matt.

Chloe turned to look...down a little at her brother. "What's happened?" she said, seeing Nirn leather armor on her chest, though it was having trouble keeping her modesty.

"Turns out gamma radiation reawoke your werewolf side, a lot more than anyone was expecting," said Matt.

"Dammit," muttered Chloe, before saying "Where's Chris?"

"Also werewolf, Royal class like you. _Thanks_ to you. Oh and you almost helped Hircine absorb this entire reality," said Matt.

"What?!" snapped Chloe, electricity sparking around her.

"Hey, least he's not a batfink anymore and silver won't bother him," said Matt.

Chloe snapped "And how would you know?" before her ears flattened and she started to say "Oh...I'm...I'm sorry."

"I've been trying hard to put that behind me," said Matt, keeping his tone level.

Chloe sighed, hanging her head as her form shifted down, her wolf fur changing to her usual black coloring before she was eye to eye with him. "I didn't mean it..." she said.

Matt sighed before saying, "Yeah...yeah, I know."

"So...am I still gamma-charged?" asked Chloe.

"Yep," said Matt, "Turns out being a gamma-mutate isn't as 24/7 as it used to be."

"Oh. I guess this means I'll need a new superhero identity...again," said Chloe.

"Least you get to choose one. I'm still Lazard the Lame," said Matt, opening the cell.

"Eh, you're probably due a power upgrade some point soon," said Chloe, walking out.

After the two had walked out, Chris's voice came from another cell. "Erm...Matt? Chloe? Anyone?"

* * *

Hey there, finally putting up a new chapter. This one's been through a few rewritings as there has been a few things me and my co-author couldn't make up our minds about. Namely concerning John Jameson/Man-Wolf. It was a bit annoying that he was dropped from 'Ultimate Spider-Man' without any real mention or resolution, let alone telling us where the wolf gem came from in the first place.

We've also added characters from 'Hulk and the Agents of SMASH'. I felt a little sorry for Bruce and Betty's relationship, so I made her the Red She-Hulk. Like Red, she has much control over herself in this universe and doesn't go evil.

This story also dips back a bit into our Elder Scrolls story. We also have both Morph and NegaMorph on the playing field now, expect to see a lot more of them in the future.

This chapter is the first part of a small trilogy. The next chapter will be up on Tuesday and the one after that will be on Halloween. Keep an eye out for them and please review.


	17. White Tiger, Black Dragon

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 17: White Tiger, Black Dragon**

_The mountains shook at the ferocity of the battle. A humanoid white tiger was fighting hard against a large black dragon. The tiger fought with great power and ferocity. It was not simply the slashing of claws and the flash of teeth. The tiger was clearly a master of martial arts. The dragon was already covered in many wounds. But the dragon was bigger and had the strength to go with it. Much of the battlefield had been scorched or smashed by the dragon's might._

"_You should not have returned, Chiantang," growled the tiger._

"_K'un-L'un is just as much my right as it is my brothers," said the dragon, "More even. I am stronger and have brought wisdom from the west."_

"_You did not bring wisdom. You've only brought corruption and destruction," said the tiger._

"_The destruction I have saved for you," said the dragon before opening his mouth and letting out a great blast of green flame. The tiger screamed as he was engulfed._

* * *

Ava sat up in bed with a startled gasp. She panted as she reminded herself it was just a dream. A disturbingly vivid dream. She was in the SHIELD Triskelion, nowhere near K'un-L'un. And yet she felt so certain that was where that dream took place. She looked to the tiger amulet. It was no surprise that was it was glowing brightly now. She picked it up and looked at the jade carving. "Why were you made?" she asked softly.

"Hey, Ava, can you turn down the reading light?" asked a sleepy voice. She looked over to see that Peter was up.

"It's not a reading light," said Ava, holding up the amulet.

"Since when does your amulet glow that bright?" asked Peter.

"Not on its own," said Ava, "Peter, there's something I didn't tell you about, down in the Savage Land."

"You mean how the catnip down there turned you more catlike than usual?" asked Peter, "Already heard about it."

"There was more than just what happened with my body," said Ava, "I saw inside the amulet and… I need to talk to Danny about this. I've put it off for too long."

"What does Danny have to do with it?" asked Peter.

"Because the amulet is from K'un-L'un," said Ava.

"Say what now?" asked Peter in confusion.

* * *

Fortunately, Danny wasn't hard to get up. In fact, he was an early riser so he could start his day with meditation.

Danny was sitting in a circle of candles when Peter knocked on the doorframe and asked, "Danny, got a minute? You weren't about to reach enlightenment, were you?"

Danny smiled before saying calmly "The next level of enlightenment can wait."

"Cool. Ava wanted to talk to you about something," said Peter.

Ava walked into the room, stroking the tiger amulet in her hand. "Danny...I've never shown you the tiger amulet up close, have I?" asked Ava.

"I have seen it on you often enough," said Danny, "Is there more to it?"

"Well, this amulet's...it's from K'un-L'un, isn't it?" asked Ava.

Danny nodded. "I always thought it might be but there was never a reason to mention it," he said.

"Well, I think I've found evidence it really is in K'un-L'un," said Ava.

"Really? When?" asked Danny.

"In the Savage Land," said Ava.

Peter blinked. "There's nothing in the Savage Land that's even close to looking like it came from K'un-L'un," he said.

"Well...it's complicated," said Ava, "Down in the Savage Land, I was exposed to this poison that brought out the beast in me."

Peter gulped, getting an idea what the poison was and remembering what it had done to him with a shudder.

"So, I guess you went totally savage," said Peter, "At least you don't remember what you did."

"Well...maybe my body was running wild, but my mind was somewhere else entirely. It was like I was inside the amulet and I saw the tiger spirit inside it," said Ava, "It looked like it had been trapped in the amulet long ago in K'un-L'un."

"Is that all?" asked Danny.

"Not just that," said Ava, "Last night, I had a dream. I dreamt of a white tiger fighting a black dragon."

"A dragon like Matt and his friends?" asked Peter.

Danny shook his head, "I do not believe so."

"No, it was more Asian," said Ava, "And the white tiger, he looked far more than just a beast. Like he was the guardian of K'un-L'un. And he called the dragon Chiantang."

Peter paused before saying carefully, "Maybe it's a premonition or something?"

"No, I think it's something that happened a long time ago," said Ava, "What do you think, Danny?"

Danny looked thoughtful. "This sounds like something I heard about in K'un-L'un. However, a vessel can only hold so much knowledge before it spills over."

"You know, you could just say 'There was so much to learn, I've forgotten some of it'," said Peter.

Danny smiled at that, "I could but it wouldn't sound as mystic."

"This doesn't answer enough. I need to know about this amulet," said Ava. She took a deep breath and said, "Danny, I never asked you for a favor this seriously. But I need you to take me to K'un-L'un."

Danny paused at that. "That...might be difficult. They have opened up more since the last time I returned there, thanks to Peter. But they are still wary of the outside."

"Hey, she has a mystic K'un-L'un artifact of big importance," said Peter, "That should be as good as a passport."

"It may, but we must be prepared that the monks may not allow it," said Danny

"Hey, we'll both vouch for her," said Peter.

"You?" asked Ava.

"Hey, I have unquestionable honor as far as they're concerned," said Peter, "Besides, I'm pretty sure they'll never question Danny's choice of guests."

There was a knock on the door at that. "Could you wait a minute?" called Peter.

A second knock occurred, the first two raps knocking a dent in the door before the third let a silver-scaled clawed hand through, a female voice on the other hand going "Oopsie." before it withdrew and Silvana peered through the hole. "I heard what you said. Can I come too?" she said with a perky smile.

"How long have you been eavesdropping?" asked Ava with annoyance.

"I can't help it if the walls are thin," said Silvana in a hurt voice.

Danny muttered, "But they're not."

But Silvana continued. "I heard you all mention dragons. I wanna meet them," she said, still smiling.

"I'm not sure if these are your type of dragon," said Peter.

Silvana's smile froze a bit before she said, "I haven't seen another real dragon in months. The Lynches are nice but any dragon could tell you that they're fake. I want to at least see a member of my species before I SNAP!" hitting the door with the last screeched word, knocking it across the corridor.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy," said Ava in a soothing voice, "I'm sure there's someone you can talk to about that. Like wouldn't Dr. Strange know any dragons?"

"If he's in K'un-L'un, I'll ask him," said Danny.

Peter paused before saying to the others quietly, "Maybe she needs some time off outside the base? Does anyone remember seeing her either not here or not working at the Lynches' cover?"

Ava nodded, "Silvana, when was the last time you had a vacation?"

Silvana blinking before she said, "I dunno...what's a vacation?"

"You're kidding, right?" asked Peter, "Didn't Matt tell you about the benefits of your job?"

Silvana gave him a confused look, "Job?"

"What did you do to help your people?" said Danny carefully.

Silvana thought before smiling, "I helped with the hunting. Good ore and mutton doesn't catch itself."

Peter and Danny gave each other confused looks. "You know, come to think of it, the dossier that Matt gave Fury mentioned that Silvana used to be a f-o-s-s-i-l," said Ava.

Silvana paused. "What's a fossli?"

"I think a broader view of the world would be best for her," said Danny, "And where better to seek enlightenment than K'un-L'un?"

"I can come?" said Silvana happily, grabbing the three in a hug.

"If you don't compress us into a cube..." gasped Peter.

"Oops, sorry," said Silvana sheepishly, letting go, before laughing and dancing in a circle, singing something over and over in a melodic language.

"Well, I don't think the monks will think she's corrupt," said Peter.

"I better get my jet ready," said Danny, walking out of the room.

"Wait, Danny has a jet?" asked Ava.

* * *

However, Ava wasn't the only one to have that dream. Elsewhere in New York, Kraven had sat up straight from his bed, sweating. He has had vivid dreams before, but never one like this. The tiger and the dragon, such primal power and magnificence. It had to mean something. Something to do with the Tiger Amulet for sure.

Kraven sat up and looked at his reflection in a mirror. Few people could remember their dreams, but Kraven wasn't normal people. His mind was already going through the dream with the detail of a professional lucid dreamer. One word stood out...K'un-L'un…

Where he had heard that word before? Ah, yes. His teammate Scorpion talked about K'un-L'un often enough. Let us see if he is up.

Kraven walked out of his room and strode down the corridor, pausing at two cages to smirk at their occupants. Vulture and Rhino, Doctor Octopus's most successful splicing experiments yet, which didn't say much. The two of them could have been true warriors, perhaps even worthy prey for Kraven. But then they had to defy their creator who stripped them of their willpower. Now they were just his attack animals. It almost made Kraven pity them.

He strode onwards with a sigh, reaching a door and not bothering to knock before walking in. Scorpion was meditating, a stick of incense burning in front of him. Kraven had nearly forgotten what Scorpion looked like outside of his armor. "Scorpion, I need to pick your brain," said Kraven.

Scorpion moved with a blur, pushing Kraven against the wall, a kunai blade at the hunter's throat. Kraven smirked, before letting his eyes point down. Scorpion looking down to see a serrated hunting knife a millimeter from going into Scorpion's kidneys. "If this is how you treat your allies..." Kraven sneered.

"This is how I treat intruders," said Scorpion, "You should know better than to intrude in a scorpion's lair."

"I only wished to talk," said Kraven with his same confident smile.

"About what?" asked Scorpion.

"You come from K'un-L'un, da?" asked Kraven.

"Haven't I made it clear by now?" asked Scorpion.

"There is something I wish to know more about K'un-L'un," said Kraven.

Scorpion glared, saying coldly, "I may have been exiled, but I will not betray my homeland's secrets."

"It's not betraying, it's sharing," said Kraven, "I already know so much about K'un-L'un. For example, the Tiger Amulet comes from K'un-L'un, right?"

Scorpion snapped, "Urgh...that trinket? Unimportant."

"I don't think it's unimportant to Chiantang," said Kraven.

Scorpion's eyes widened in shock before he pressed the kunai harder. "How do you know that name?" he snapped.

"I heard it in my dream," said Kraven, tapping the side of his head with one finger of his free hand, "It was a very interesting dream about a white tiger and a black dragon. It sounded like it's part of a bigger story."

There was a long pause before Scorpion sheathed his kunai knife. "I'm listening," he said.

* * *

"Ok...you really don't have to go in the cargo," said Spider-Man, Silvana in her dragon form in said hold.

"You said all the best food was in first class. Look around at all this tasty food," she said carefully, gesturing with a clawed hand.

"Silvana, you need to realize that our definition of food does not match yours," said Spider-Man.

Silvana nodded. "I did try organic food. It gave me the-" she said, before making a keening snarl and continuing "...and I don't want to go through that again."

"Just don't eat the instruments," said Spider-Man, "The plane needs them to fly and land."

"No, I found some nice spicy things called...flares I think they were called," said Silvana happily.

"That can't be good for your digestion," said Spider-Man.

Silvana burped a small fireball at that that vanished in seconds in the air before harming anything. "They do make me a tad gassy," she admitted.

"Right... Try to curb your appetite," said Spider-Man.

"Ok, I can wait," said Silvana happily, watching as Spider-Man walked out before sneakily grabbing a handful of red cartridges from somewhere and munching them, a sizzle heard and her mouth glowing. "Mmmmm...toasty," she said happily.

Spider-Man headed back to the other passengers. "Why didn't you ever tell us you had a private jet?" asked White Tiger.

"Guess you got blown away by him being the heir of Rand Industries too," said Spider-Man.

"Wait, Rand Industries? Danny owns Rand Industries?" asked White Tiger.

"Yeah, kinda in the name," said Spider-Man.

"Hey, Rand's a lot more common name than Osborn," said White Tiger.

"He did drop some hints," said Spider-Man.

Danny said quietly, "That you didn't notice."

"Well, Danny, you never really exerted your wealth that much," said White Tiger.

"I'm trying not to be attached to it," said Danny, "Some day, I shall have to give it up to become king of K'un-L'un."

"King? Really?" asked White Tiger in disbelief.

"Yeah, blew me away too," said Spider-Man, "But maybe the monks will let you keep the company."

Danny smiled, "I don't mind giving up my family's company. There are more important things in the world then wealth."

"I'm just glad he doesn't have to give up seeing everyone he knows," said Spider-Man.

Danny just smiled a little sadly at that, unnoticed.

* * *

Before long, the jet had landed outside the gates of K'un-L'un. "I am so glad I brought a coat this time," said Spider-Man as they walked out of the jet.

"This is K'un-L'un?" asked White Tiger, "I mean, it's beautiful, but I imagined it to be greener."

Danny smiled. "You're only seeing the mountain gate. The valley itself is far better." before all three turned at a 'crunk' noise, turning to see Silvana had managed to get out, taking off with a jumping flap of her wings and circling above them, roaring at the sky.

"What is she doing?" asked Spider-Man. "It looks like she's looking for something," said White Tiger.

The roaring got more urgent before there was one, sadder roar, before Silvana landed again, hanging her head.

"Were you looking for other dragons?" asked White Tiger.

"Why are they not here?" asked Silvana sadly, "Why didn't they come?"

"Maybe it's hibernation season," said Spider-Man.

Silvana hung her head deeper, a shadow across her eyes before she said in a small voice, "No...they ignored me..."

"The dragons of K'un-L'un do not reveal themselves to just anyone. Even I had to search hard to find Shao-Lao," said Danny.

Silvana just hung her head, remaining silent till she said quietly, "Ok..." trudging past them.

"Ok, so where are-" started Spider-Man.

"Daniel Rand," said a calm voice.

"Oh, never mind," said Spider-Man.

Silvana gloomily stepped aside to let the three see a grey haired monk in white robes.

"Your return was quite unexpected," said the monk, "Have you come to take the throne of K'un-L'un?"

"It it not yet my time," said Iron Fist, "There is still more to learn. I am here on a more personal quest for a friend."

The monk looked expectantly at Spider-Man for a second before Ava stepped forward. "I'm the keeper of the Tiger Amulet," said White Tiger, holding out the amulet to be seen, "I've come here seeking answers."

The monk looked closely at the amulet, before saying "Hmm...it has been a long time since the Tiger Amulet was in K'un-L'un."

"And a lot has been forgotten about it," said White Tiger, "I need to know more."

"Yes, you do. The knowledge you seek awaits within. Come, it will be night soon," said the monk, before turning, the group following, with Silvana trudging gloomily at the back. She could sense the few dragons around...why had they ignored her?

The monk paused at the gate, "Daniel, the guards shall lead your pet to the stables."

This filtered through to Silvana's brain. Pet?...PET?! She was the first born of the Matriach and Patriach of the Ferrus Clan of Avalar. She was easy going, sure...but some things you just didn't say. Silvana's joints clicked as she shifted to robot mode. "I am nobody's pet," she snapped at the monk.

"Uh...she's our tagalong," said Spider-Man, "Kinda wanted to meet the dragons here."

"Yes...and they're very rude." said Silvana in an annoyed tone.

"The dragons of the west are not good houseguests," said the monk, "It would be foolish to let one inside."

"The west what? There's only one continent on my homeworld," said Silvana, confused.

"She's also an alien," said Spider-Man, "From another universe. It's kinda hard to explain."

"I just wanted to talk to other dragons for once," said Silvana, shifting back to dragon form.

"There is a reason the dragons of the west are not trusted in K'un-L'un, as you shall find out shortly," said the monk.

Silvana smiled happily. "My teacher says I am a very likable person," she said cheerfully.

"Listen, she's not corrupt or dishonorable or anything," said Spider-Man, "Well, except for being careless with other people's possessions."

There was a screech of metal at that, everyone turning to see the gate was missing its main lock, Silvana rolling her eyes around with bulging cheeks innocently. "And having the appetite of a goat," said Spider-Man.

Silvana swallowed, before saying "I couldn't help it. I'm starving and it looked so tasty."

"She's not really that bad," said White Tiger, "Don't you have some mystical way of seeing if she's pure of heart or something?"

"We should concentrate on Ava's amulet," said Silvana sagely, "My problems can wait."

"She is certainly humbler than most western dragons," said the monk.

"I am first hatched of the Ferrus Clan. We are wise and honourable," said Silvana a little loftily before something occurred before she hung her head "We were..."

"She may enter the monastery," said the monk, "Provided she does not eat anything in there."

Danny and Ava bowed at that with respect, Silvana bowing her head before Silvana perked up, though the trained eye could see it was a little forced.

* * *

The monastery's library was filled with thousands of scrolls. "Wow, I hope you guys have a super-tight library system," said Spider-Man.

The elder monk nodded to an attending monk who walked into the stacks. "This will not take long," the monk said sagely. He soon returned with a scroll. "Daniel, what do you remember about the Four Sacred Beasts?" he asked.

"They are guardian entities that protect K'un-L'un, and by extension all of Asia, from all four directions. The north is guarded by the Black Turtle, the east is guarded by the Azure Dragon, the south is guarded by the Vermillion Bird..."

"And the west is guarded by the White Tiger," finished the monk.

"Wait...as in my amulet?" said Ava.

"The White Tiger inside the amulet once existed as another being," said the monk before unrolling the scroll, showing a white tiger man wearing ancient armor, "Bai Hu, Guardian of the West."

"How did he end up in the amulet?" asked Spider-Man, pausing briefly as he saw Silvana gently pull a scroll out, opening it and beginning to read, treating the paper under her claws like eggshells.

"As Guardian of the West, Bai Hu had the most difficult task of keeping out evil from that direction. However, one evil proved too much for him." He unfurled the scroll more, revealing an illustration of the black dragon from Ava's dream. But now that she saw it, she noticed there were definitely different from the usual Asian dragons. For one thing, he had large batlike wings, large finlike ears, and spikes going down his back and ending at a spiky club at the end of his tail.

"His name was Chaintang, half-brother of the eternal dragon king. He was jealous of K'un-L'un and many times brought pain and anguish to our lands. He would savage our people and leave before Bai Hu could arrive. Until one day, when one of his victims, a victim of his dark spells, fought him and delayed him until the guardian arrived," continued the monk, pointing to several illustrations showing two serpent dragons fighting above the city.

"Shao-Lao?" asked Iron Fist in surprise.

"Once one of Chiantang's closest allies, before the Black Dragon removed his heart and cursed him with unending life," said the monk, "Shao-Lao now only lives to test the next Iron Fist."

"So how does this affect Bai Hu?" asked White Tiger.

"Shao-Lao managed to delay Chiantang long enough for Bai Hu to arrive and fight. The Black Dragon was strong, but still weaker than the White Tiger. In desperation, he used black magic from the west to curse Bai Hu, binding his spirit into an amulet of jade. But the two battles and the casting of the curse took its toll. Chiantang was weakened and helpless and the people of K'un-L'un were able to imprison him in a tomb where he remains to this day."

White Tiger paused, remembering her encounter with the tiger spirit. His behaviour made more sense. All those centuries in a piece of jade...it had sent him insane.

"So then what about the White Tigers who possessed the amulet?" asked Spider-Man.

"A long line of warriors was selected to be Bai Hu's caretakers, to keep the amulet from falling into the wrong hands and continue his role as Guardian of the West," said the monk, "However, one bearer went out into the outside world to find a way to free the Holy Beast from his prison. He was never heard from again. Thus the Tiger Amulet has disappeared from history and the people of the west have been encroaching on Asia ever since."

White Tiger went silent, getting a good feeling whose family she might belong to now, before the Monk said, "We thank you for returning it."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," said Spider-Man, "Isn't there more to the story? Isn't there some prophecy about a true hero freeing the tiger or something?"

"The story has already ended," said the monk, "K'un-L'un's greatest mystics could not free Bai Hu. And as he is still imprisoned, then there is no magic outside of K'un-L'un that can free him either."

"Haven't you tried Doctor Strange? You guys are like, astral plane buddies or something," asked Spider-Man.

"The Sorcerer Supreme of Bai Hu's time could not help him. It is unlikely any of his successors could do anything either. The only thing that can be done is that Bai Hu treated well inside his prison. And since that knowledge had been lost down the line, I suspect the care for him has been poor," said the monk.

Spider-Man said, "I'm sure Ava's family looked after the amulet pretty well."

"No we haven't," said White Tiger sadly, "All we've been doing is keeping it away from the wrong hands. We've been using its powers selfishly. I didn't know there was an actual being inside the amulet. I don't deserve to use this."

"Really? Your family's been crime fighters for years. You've saved all sorts of people," said Silvana, not looking up from her scroll, before noticing their looks. "It was on that laptop thing I ate last week," she said, before going back to her scroll.

"She speaks true," said Iron Fist, "You have always used the Tiger Amulet for the better of others. You cannot be blamed for something that was forgotten long ago. I can think of no better caretaker for Bai Hu."

The monk nodded in agreement. "It seems that Bai Hu is indeed in honourable hands," he said sagely.

"But I only thought the tiger spirit was a savage beast. How can I, in good conscience, use a sentient being for power?" asked White Tiger.

"We have ways to communicate with Bai Hu," said the monk, "You will have time. I do not think you'll be able to leave tonight."

Silvana shifted to her half form and headed for a shuttered window. "But it's perfect flying-" she began, opening it and being buried in snow, a snowstorm raging outside. Her muffled voice said, "I may be mistaken...has someone got a shovel?"

"There are drawbacks to living on a mountaintop, isn't there?" asked Spider-Man.

"It has its advantages too," said Iron Fist.

"Well it's definitely not the weather," grumbled Silvana from under her snow drift.

"You have hot springs here, right?" asked White Tiger.

"Naturally," said Iron Fist.

* * *

That night, under the cover of the snow, two individuals were headed towards the distant lights visible through the storm of the gate. "I must admit, this is not an easy place to find unless you know where it is," said Kraven.

"As it should be," said Scorpion, "Such a sacred place must remain separate from the outside world and the unworthy people who live there."

Kraven smirked, "Oh, does that mean I'm worthy?"

Scorpion's tail lashed close to Kraven's head. "Do not test me, hunter," said Scorpion, "I could have just as easily come here alone."

"Do you think you can slay a dragon all by yourself?" asked Kraven, "Chiantang is far stronger than Shao-Lao. You need me if you want his power."

Scorpion glared before conceding, "Why do you think I guided you here?"

"Just remember our agreement. The power of Chiantang is yours, but his hide is mine," said Kraven, "It would make the ultimate trophy."

Scorpion raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were after immortality," he said suspiciously.

"Who's to say I won't live forever after this? Kraven the Hunter, slayer of the last great dragon. But, if you can spare enough power to give me eternal life, I wouldn't say no," said Kraven.

Scorpion just rolled his eyes before heading onwards, the faint glow of the gate torches seen in the storm.

"Anyways, since you are no longer welcome back here, you will need my help to even get past this impenetrable... What are you gawking at?" asked Kraven.

"The...The...the..." managed Scorpion, Kraven looking past him to see the gates in scaffold, the main lock missing around an obvious bite mark.

"Oh...maybe Chiantang's already here?" said Kraven, tauntingly, before realising Scorpion hadn't threatened him in response. "Scorpion? Hey, snap out of it! We have a dragon to slay!" snapped Kraven.

Scorpion said faintly "Hmm?"

Kraven shook him. "I said we have a dragon to slay..." before after a thought said, "The...dragon that broke the gate?"

"No, it wasn't the dragon," said Scorpion, his glare turning to the jet that was partially buried by the snowstorm. "Iron Fist, he must have brought...something. He will pay dearly for this," snarled Scorpion.

"Something that eats metal," said Kraven, thinking 'And I'm working with this nut'.

"Then we'll hunt it too!" snapped Scorpion.

* * *

Silvana was reading through yet another scroll. The monks had given her a warm large room so she didn't even need to sleep in humanoid form. "The dragons of this world are either jerks or stuck up," she muttered gloomily. Just then, she heard knocking at the door. "Come in," she called.

Ava opened the door. "Uh, Silvana, can we talk?" asked Ava.

"Is this going to be the boy talk?" asked Silvana innocently.

Ava stared. "Erm...no?" she said

"I mean, it's ok if you want to talk about your feelings about Danny," said Silvana.

"What?" asked Ava.

"Well, it may be about Peter, but he already has a mate," said Silvana.

Ava coughed before saying quickly, "I didn't want to talk about that. Are you ok? You seemed really upset when no dragons answered you."

Silvana sighed. "I'm all that's left of the clan...or as close as can be gotten," she said sadly, looking at her clawed paw that segmented into a metallic one. "The rest of my clan joined some nutcase. The others took me in," she said sadly.

"Er, I'm sure they'll see reason eventually," said Ava.

"I hope so. I don't even know where they are. I hoped I'd just get to see another of my species on this trip. Talk to another dragon," said Silvana, laying down gloomily, before adding "Before you say anything, Matt and his sister aren't real dragons. Any real Avalarian could spot them across a crowded square."

"And obviously Kala doesn't count either," said Ava.

"Nope," said Silvana, sitting up again, "I was hoping at least this Shao-Lou would at least acknowledge I was in his territory. I even asked when we arrived."

Ava paused, "That roaring was asking?"

Silvana nodded, "I'm told I have a lovely asking voice."

"So what was it you wanted to really talk about?" asked Silvana.

"I need an outsider's opinion. Peter and Danny are nice, but they may hide the truth to spare my feelings," said Ava, "This power I have, it comes from another being kept in a prison. Does that make me a hero or just a jailor?"

"Hmm...that's something I'd ask my mother about, but if what I learnt about you is right, you're closer to a hero. You weren't the one to lock that tiger spirit thing up. You used his powers to help people. Sounds like a hero to me," said Silvana cheerfully.  
"Yeah, I wish I could let Bai Hu know that I'm not keeping him prisoner. That I would release him if I could," said Ava.

"By the way, what happened to the other three Holy Beasts?" asked Silvana, "Shouldn't they have helped their friend?"

Ava paused as Silvana pointed to the scrolls around her. "The monks let me read alot. None of them say the other spirits retired or got vaporised or something," she said.

"Hmm...something about this doesn't quite hang together," said Ava, "Let's look in the library more."

"Ok," said Silvana happily, getting up, the lock on the door glowing and the door opening. "Ferromancy. It was our wing's speciality," she explained.

"I suppose that's come in handy," said Ava.

"Not so much," said Silvana, "There weren't a lot of metal things on Avalar. The other dragon flights thought our powers were useless. We had to interbreed with other dragons just so we could breathe fire or anything." Ava was about to ask when Silvana said, "It's ok to ask. My mom's a psi-Drake. Oh, sorry."

"And your dad?" asked Ava.

"Ferrocus, he has fire breath and he can do a lot more with it now. You should have seen him when he was reborn as a Dracobot."

"Is that what you are?" asked Ava, the two turning a corner.

Silvana nodded. "More or less...I'm closer to something Chip said was techno-organic," she said.

"And your folk aren't?" asked Ava. "I think they are, but in a different way. I can't even explain and Chip is still trying to-" Just then, she turned her head and gestured as three knives stopped in midair. "Ooooh...and I was peckish too," she said, levitating them into her mouth before she frowned. "Hey, wait a minute..." she said in an annoyed tone.

"Who would throw knives in a monastery?" asked Ava.

Just then, a robotic scorpion tail lashed out of the dark, just barely missing Ava's leg. "The only one who belongs here," said Scorpion, stepping out of the shadows.

"Who are you?" said Silvana icily, shutting down her compression field enough so that she comfortably filled the corridor. This person had thrown knives at her and tried to attack her friend too.

"I am the true heir of K'un-L'un," said Scorpion.

"That's what he thinks," said Ava, "He got exiled from here for a good reason."

Silvana glared at Scorpion at that, her eyes glowing faintly. "I can tell...cowardly little snake," she snarled before she got a worried look. "He's not alone..." before there was a bang and a large net hit them.

"Well, this is quite an unexpected bonus," said Kraven as he stepped out of the shadows.

"Kraven!" snapped Ava.

"You know this jerk?" snapped Silvana, rolling as she tried to untangle her wings, first instinct of any dragon.

"He took my father from me!" snarled Ava.

"And I can easily take your amulet from you know," said Kraven, "However, I am after a bigger quarry this time."

"What are you after?" snapped Silvana.

"I would love to tell you about it, but we are on a timetable," said Kraven.

Silvana's eyes widened, before she let out a high-pitched and terror-filled keening noise, trying even harder to get away.

"Silvana, could you not do that right by my ear?" asked Ava, who was being squished in the net.

Silvana turned to look, her eyes slits before she began clawing in terror, Kraven smirking. "I think we will not need to worry," he said.

"We should deal with this desecrator now," said Scorpion.

"Leave it," said Kraven, "She is a mere rabbit compared to the beast we're after. And she'll tear apart this kitten for us."

Scorpion glared for a minute before smirking, his knife slashing out to cut a few bonds free, the two heading off before Silvana tore herself free and looked around madly, before looking at Ava, snarling.

"Silvana, it's me," said Ava, "I'm not the one you're mad at."

Silvana seemed ready to attack before her horns glowed faintly and her eyes refocussed, though she immediately curled up, shaking like a leaf. "Monster...he's a monster..." she said faintly.

"Tell me something I don't know," said Ava bitterly.

"Did you know he's going to break into Chiantang's tomb?" asked Silvana.

"What?" said Ava in shock.

"He's going to try and slay him...he's killed so many...so much blood..." said Silvana, her eyes just staring terrified ahead.

"I know he has," said Ava, "My family's blood is on his hands. But this isn't the first time he's overestimated himself so badly. We need to get the others."

"NO! No more death. I will not let him slay another dragon!" she practically roared, her eyes glowing silver and the walls creaking slightly.

"Another dragon?" asked Ava.

"Yes! He killed one in someplace called Komodo!" snapped Silvana.

"Komodo dragons aren't actually dragons," said Ava, "They're just big lizards."

Silvana's breathing calmed, her eyes losing their glow and the creaking ceasing. "He's still a monster...and we have to stop him," she said.

"Yes, before he unleashes an even bigger monster that he can't possibly defeat," said Ava. Silvana was about to reply before her eyes faintly glowed and she got a sad look. "Silvana, focus. We need to get the boys," said Ava.

"No...one of us has to head them off," said Silvana, getting properly to her feet, "You get them. I can catch up with Kraven and Scorpion faster."

"Silvana, you don't know how they fight," said Ava, "They'll be too much for you."

"They use metal weapons," said Silvana, "It's all the advantage I need."

Ava paused before saying, "Just...be careful of Kraven. He doesn't just use metal and he knows how to ambush."

Silvana nodded. "May the stones favour you." she said, before turning and heading in the same direction as the two had headed.

* * *

"So, when are you planning on taking the throne?" asked Spider-Man, "I mean, there's no real rush, right?"

"After graduation," said Iron Fist, "But that does not mean I will be leaving the outside world forever. You will be able to count on me if you need me."

"They seem to be treating Silvana ok at least." Spider-Man said, the two thinking about how a large dragoness had kept asking the monks so kindly for scrolls to read.

"I am not sure they are at ease with her," said Iron Fist, "It only takes one drop of ink to stain a piece of paper."

"Silvana doesn't want to cause trouble. Sure, she ate Nova's phone but she apologised afterwards," said Spider-Man.

"I know she doesn't," said Iron Fist, "But she had a...naivety that makes her vulnerable."

Spider-Man thought about that, remembering how Matt, Kala or Chloe were always explaining some everyday thing to her, or gently explaining how the world she was in worked. She also had a blunt way of looking at the world, backed up by the fact she literally ate metal. "Well, yeah, she does seem to have a different viewpoint than others," said Spider-Man.

"Which is something that someone could exploit," said Iron Fist.

"Well, it's a good thing there's no one like that here," said Spider-Man.

At that point the door was thrown open, White Tiger running in. "Guys...Kraven...it's Kraven," she said, adding, "And Scorpion. They attacked us. Silvana's gone after them to try and slow them down. They're gonna open Chiantang's tomb."

"Ok, that's pretty bad," said Spider-Man.

"What?" said Iron Fist in shock.

"We have to stop them before they get to the tomb," said White Tiger.

"Right...except we have no idea where that tomb is," said Spider-Man.

"I know who might know," said Iron Fist.

* * *

"Then she has gone," said the monk calmly once things had explained, not sounding very surprised.

"After Scorpion and Kraven. And you're taking the disgraced exile bringing an egomaniac hunter here with great stride," said Spider-Man.

"He is following destiny, much like the last time, as is your dragon friend," said the monk calmly.

"Destiny? You knew this was going to happen?" asked Iron Fist, "That Scorpion would betray us?"

"Scorpion chose the path that would lead him here," said the elder monk, "It became clear when the true nature of his heart was revealed."

"How does Silvana fit into this?" said White Tiger.

The monk sighed, "She is destined to release the black dragon."

"Hey, just because she's not your kind of dragon-" started Spider-Man.

"That is why it will happen," said the monk, "A dragon from the outside will release Chiantang. As it was foretold."

"That doesn't mean she will. You didn't say anything about that being set in stone," snapped White Tiger.

"In fact, you said that the story has already ended," said Iron Fist.

"That was in regards to Bai Hu," said the monk, "There is no prophecy connected to it."

"And yet there's a prophecy saying the Black Dragon is going to be free and not mention the White Tiger? Don't you think that's a little off?" asked Spider-Man.

The monk seemed to think for a second before nodding, "It is a curious oversight."

"Such as how the other Holy Beasts haven't helped out at all?" asked White Tiger.

"Agreed. I suspect that you will find out why they have also been absent when you follow," said the monk calmly.

* * *

Silvana flew through the icy wind. Despite expectations, most dragons were fine in the cold thanks to their elemental cores, Silvana more so and she could easily see the tracks those dragonslayers had left behind. The problem was that the blizzard may soon wipe away the tracks and Silvana wasn't sure if she could track them any other way.

The scent led to a barely visible cave in the distance, the ruins of some sort of fort around it. "Hmm..." she muttered, swooping down and landing at the cave entrance. It looked like she had gotten there a little before them. Silvana jumped as a low deep voice said as if in her ear, _"And who is this who come to pay reverence?"_

"I'm not here to pay anything," said Silvana defensively.

_"Yet you come to protect me from slayers,"_ said the voice with a tone of amusement.

"I came to stop the slayers," snapped Silvana.

_"And could that not be seen as protection, child?"_ said the voice.

"Well, in a way, I guess," said Silvana.

_"Yet you are outnumbered. The hunter...I can see how he will end you. Yet I can help if you will allow me, child of steel and scales,"_ sneered the voice.

"I...I don't need your help," said Silvana, uncertainly.

_"I sense your uncertainty. Without my help you will fail,"_ said the voice calmly.

"I have friends who are coming after me," said Silvana.

_"The monks will not allow them. You know this,"_ sneered the voice.

"Of course they would," said Silvana.

_"But will they get here in time? I offer you aid to defeat them,"_ said the voice, this time the voice echoing in her head. Silvana winced. The howling wind and the biting cold made it hard to think clearly. _"I offer my aid...to make you stronger...strong enough for you to save your clan,"_ sneered the voice, the echoing louder now.

"My clan is not-" started Silvana.

_"Your clan are slaves to a false queen,"_ said the voice more sternly.

"But-" started Silvana.

_"You wish to fail your family?"_ snarled the voice, Silvana twitching as her head felt like it was shattering. _"You do not have the power. You are merely a metal vessel. You are hollow inside. You need the power I offer,"_ said the voice, which was sounding angrier and angrier.

"I...need...NO...GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" screamed Silvana.

_"It's too late for that,"_ sneered the voice.

She screamed as she found her body stiffly walking over to a damaged building in the compound, three pendants on pedestals, before her hand reached for the one stylized like a lizard. The second she touched it, she felt a surge of power...right before things went white.

* * *

Kraven was huffing as he and Scorpion ascended up to the cave. "Feeling tired already?" asked Scorpion smugly.

"Hardly," said Kraven, "It's this thin mountain air."

"Haven't you ever climbed so high?" asked Scorpion.

"Nothing much to hunt up high," said Kraven.  
"Huh...we are close.." scoffed Scorpion, leading the way through the snow towards a set of ruined gates, a far larger set of heavy-looking gates seen just inside a large cave.

"They definitely wanted to keep this place out of the way," said Kraven.

"With reason. This is where Chantang is imprisoned," said Scorpion in a low voice.  
"Is it still alive? We won't get much from its skeleton," said Kraven.

"Of course," snapped Scorpion.

"Most animals would be long dead," said Kraven.

"Dragons aren't most animals," said Scorpion, "No toying with this one. We strike it down fast and hard. Then I shall have a power greater than the Iron Fist."

A female voice echoed out at that, "Who dares trespass here?"

"I thought you said Chiantang was male," said Kraven.

"He is," said Scorpion carefully, readying a blade, before it flew out his hand, a pair of glowing red eyes seen in the shadows ahead.  
Pretty soon, a long shape slithered out of the shadows. It could have been easy to mistake for a snake at first, but the front legs came into view. In truth, it wasn't slithering, but floating just above the ground. When it came fully out into the light, it was clearly an Asian dragon, with scales made of azure-colored metal. "Finally...a challenge," sneered Kraven, only for Scorpion to block him.  
"That's not Chiantang," said Scorpion.

"Then it is practice for the real quarry," said Kraven.

"We can't waste our strength on this one," said Scorpion, "We have to save it all for the Black Dragon."

The dragon glared. "You dare insult Qinglong?" she snarled.  
"That can't be Qinglong," said Scorpion, "Qinglong is the Guardian of the East, not the Black Dragon's tomb. And I know that Qinglong is supposed to be male."

The dragoness's eyes narrowed at that. "You are the ones...the would-be slayers," she said coldly.  
"Ah, now I see," said Kraven, "The monks who built this place made this guardian to keep out anyone who would dare to climb up here. We can deal with this fake dragon with little problem."

"Fake?" said the dragoness with a tone of amusement before she started taking a deep breath.

"Down!" yelled Scorpion. The two dived down as an almost white hot blast of flame passed over them.

"FAKE? You dare insult the Guardian of the East?" she roared, smashing her claw into one of the ruined buildings, sending a shower of smashed tiles and stone at them.  
Kraven slashed most of the stones sent at him with his spear. "This will be a good warm-up for us," he said.

"Hah...I am not the scared little whelp you faced, Kraven the Hunter," laughed the dragoness, clenching one of her hands with a glow, adding, "And if you insist on wearing so much metal."

Kraven and Scorpion grunted as they suddenly felt themselves being forced to the ground. More accurately, the armor they were wearing was forcing them to the ground.

"Oh...ferrus powers...impressive," said the dragoness, before her fist glowed brighter.

There was a creak from the armor as it started buckling a little. However, Kraven was about to let himself be taken that easy. _"Vypusk!"_ yelled Kraven. Immediately, his armor opened up, allowing him to get out of it. "That armor only slowed me down anyways," said Kraven before he ran at the dragoness.

The dragoness actually looked surprised at that as Kraven charged before her tail whipped out. Kraven easily leapt over the tail before throwing dust in the Qinglong's eyes. The dust actually stopped in the air before condensing into a stone.

"You shouldn't have that kind of power," snapped Kraven.

"Like I shouldn't be able to do this?" asked Qinglong before gesturing. Kraven suddenly found himself floating into the air and spinning around at increasing speed.

After a minute, she flicked her hand aside, sending him into a show drift before turning to look at Scorpion. "And you...the outcast and traitor. Attempted to kill the chosen future king of K'un-L'un," she sneered.

"I am a true son of K'un-L'un," grunted Scorpion, "I should be the king, not that golden-haired outsider."

"Delusional too. The bird should fit right in, in your skull." sneered Qinglong.

_"The bird? Don't be foolish,"_ said a voice in her head, _"So sedentary, so unwilling to move from the past, not to mention that extensive armor. The tortoise will be a far better choice."_

Qinglong leaned down to snort in Scorpion's face before sneering. "Perfect..." she sneered, her eyes glowing before two pendants floated out of the snow.

* * *

Going up the mountainside wasn't so hard for our young heroes. Spider-Man and White Tiger's speed and agility would have gotten them up even faster. But Iron Fist's powers were in his fists, not his legs. Keeping pace with Iron Fist allowed them to talk out the starter of a plan anyways.

"Long ago, before the guardians vanished, the emperor of China sent soldiers to help guard Chiantang's prison but it was abandoned," Iron Fist explained, a scroll of a map in his hands, pointing out where the fort was.

"I guess they thought no one was foolish enough to want to release an evil dragon," said White Tiger.

"They sure didn't count on modern stupidity," said Spider-Man before pausing, "Wait, that didn't come out right."

"Not really. Kraven and Scorpion aren't as smart as they think," said White Tiger.

"At least Silvana will be there to keep them from doing something really dumb," said Spider-Man.

A metallic screeching noise was heard echoing through the mountains at that, the echos making it seem to come from everywhere, before a small shape was seen rising into the sky in an arc. And of course, because of spider-luck, it started to fall in their direction.

The trio scattered before the object smashed into the deep snow, sliding to a halt to reveal it was feet thick metal...a larger version of the hinges on K'un-L'uns doors, twisted like it had been in a hydraulic press.

"That couldn't have been done by Kraven and/or Scorpion, could it?" asked White Tiger.

"Not unless either of them is wearing Venom again," said Spider-Man. The noise was heard again, what was presumably another hinge seen flying into a distant peak. "I think we need to get up there 10 minutes ago," said Spider-Man.

The three moved on, before White Tiger paused, her pendant glowing and seemingly feeling heavier. "Are you alright?" asked Iron Fist with concern.

"The amulet...it's getting heavier..." managed White Tiger, the amulet glowing faintly.

"As in the tiger really wants out?" asked Spider-Man.

"No...the opposite. The tiger wants to run away," said White Tiger.

"This really isn't the best time to argue with the tiger," said Spider-Man.

"No, this is the perfect time to argue with the tiger," said White Tiger. With that, she grasped the amulet in both hands, causing it to glow brighter.

* * *

She looked around, finding herself in her civilian clothing, thick fog surrounding her, before a deep male voice growled, "We do not have time for this." in a low, angry tone.

"This is the only time we'll have for this," said Ava.

"Are you mad? We have to leave before he is released," snapped the voice, the white tiger, Bai Hu, coming into view, dressed in ancient Chinese armor.

"We have to stop it before he's released," countered Ava.

"Hah...you saw that iron. Those are the hinges keeping him locked away. Just one removed would have allowed him to force his way free. Two is more than enough," snapped Bai Hu angrily.

"Then we have to stop him," said Ava adamantly.

"Stop him? He's more powerful than any mortal can deal with. Nothing will keep him from destroying K'un-L'un," snapped the tiger.

Ava glared and said, "You stopped him before, Bai Hu."

The tiger man took a step back in surprise. "I...have not heard that name for many centuries," he said quietly.

"I've been learning about you. About why you were in the amulet," said Ava.

Bai Hu sighed. "Then you have learned it is hopeless," he said, "Even my strength and that of Shao-Lao wasn't able to destroy him, only weaken him."

"But you're one of-" began Ava.

Bai Hu cut her off with a roar, "And where were my fellow guardians? Nowhere! Thousands of years I've been trapped inside this cursed amulet. But have they ever come to free me? No! They did not help then and they will not help now!"

"But you're still a guardian," said Ava, adding, "And I won't let you run." before Bai Hu seemed to blur forward, grabbing her.

"I could take control just like I did in that strange land," he snarled.

"I hold the amulet, not you," said Ava.

"Bah, yet another jailor who thinks the tame tiger is theirs to command," said Bai Hu, "None of your family has ever truly been worthy of my power."

"No...you weren't. You're not imprisoned, you're hiding," snapped Ava, "I was expecting the spirit of a mighty beast, a powerful warrior, not a scaredy cat!"

Bai Hu snarled at that, "You dare to insult me? Your ancestors stole my amulet. Thieves not worthy of my power."

"I don't believe that," said Ava.

Bai Hu snarled and said, "Do you even look like you belong in K'un-L'un?"

Ava hesitated on this. She wondered how her family, who didn't seem Asian at all, got the Tiger Amulet in the first place. But then she noticed something glowing green in her hand. She looked to that the amulet was somehow in her hand. "Let's see what the amulet saw then," said Ava, holding up the amulet.

Ava and Bai Hu watched as many lifetimes passed before their eyes. Perhaps Bai Hu's immortal eyes could process them all, but it was a little too much for Ava to absorb. But she could at least see an overview of it. The keeper of the Tiger Amulet had left K'un-L'un long ago to find a way to free Bai Hu from his prison. He travelled the world as did his descendents, but they could not find anything to free the tiger. By the time the line of keepers had settled in India, all hope to free Bai Hu had been lost and the memory of the Holy Beast's real identity was starting to fade.

The keepers of the Amulet had lived in India for a long time before one ancestor who sought to do more in the world travelled to America, specifically San Francisco. The line of descendents blurred more as the guardians started marrying into Hispanic families. Eventually, Ava saw her own family being handed down the Tiger Amulet. She even had to see Kraven hunting down her grandfather and father. Finally she saw her own history with the amulet.

But more importantly, she saw what the amulet had been used for. The keepers who wandered the world have used it to right any wrongs they have come across, to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. The keepers in India were more peaceful, considering the amulet too sacred to be used for avoidable violence. But they did use it when violence was inevitable. But when the line of keepers moved to America, they became more proactive. They fought crime, protected the innocent, and brought justice. That has stayed true even after the Tiger Amulet's origin was forgotten.

Bai Hu remained silent throughout, before he said calmly, "It seems I have misjudged you."

"I should have asked where the amulet came from sooner," said Ava.

"How could you have known? Mortals have short memories," said Bai Hu, his tone indicating he meant it as fact rather than an insult.

"So where does this go now?" asked Ava, "I can't just keep passing you down to my descendants."

"No. One way or another this will end. Chiantang is a monster that does not deserve to stay under the sun," said Bai Hu, before focussing on Ava, saying, "But you cannot stop him, not with your current power."

"I'm not sure how I can draw any more power," said Ava, "Not without losing myself."

"Kraven lost control because he was unworthy...and because my confinement had sent me mad. You could not control me because of, first, his cursed magic drums and, secondly, because of that alchemical pollen. I do not see either problem anymore," Bau Hu said calmly.

"But the most important difference is now I am willing to work with you," said Bai Hu before holding out his pawlike hand to Ava, "Are you ready to truly become the White Tiger?"

Ava paused before taking the paw.

* * *

Spider-Man and Iron Fist has to cover their eyes as the green glow of the amulet brightened to a blinding white. When the light faded, White Tiger had changed. One again, her body had become that of an anthro tigress. But this time, her costume was not torn apart by her transformation. Rather, it seemed to have merged with her to create a thick coat of fur. Her eyes were also glowing gold.

She staggered a little before saying in a slightly echoing voice, "Wow." looking at her hands.

"Uh, Ava, you in there?" asked Spider-Man, a little worried.

"Yeah...I think," said White Tiger, shaking her head, before a final crash was heard, another piece of metal flying through the air towards her.

White Tiger swung her hand at the metal, her claws being covered in white light that extended farther. As her hand passed through the metal, it fell in five pieces. Needless to say, that was quite a bit of a shock for all involved, the edge where the metal had been cut glowing and melting the snow with faint hisses.

White Tiger looked at her hand and said, "I didn't know there was that much power."

Her eyes flickered to a blue before she said in a different tone, "Of course there is. This is my full power."

"You are Bai Hu, I take it," said Iron Fist.

"I am...and you are the current holder of Shao-Lao's strength," Bai Hu said.

"It is an honor to meet one of the Four Holy Beasts," said Iron Fist, bowing.

"Uh, as much as I'd like to know this better, we have an evil dragon to stop, remember?" pointed out Spider-Man.

"Chiantang," said Bai Hu with a snarl, before Ava got control back.

"We're close," she said.

* * *

The cave that was the entrance to the tomb was unmistakable. The smashed pieces of the gate were the biggest giveaway.

"We're too late," said White Tiger just before a fireball shot down.

Iron Fist punched the fireball, making it explode into several embers. "I didn't think Chiantang could be released that fast," he said.

"That wasn't from Chiantang," said White Tiger.

Qinglong slowly emerged from the cave with an evil smile. "Well...at least this might be a challenge," she said smugly.

White Tiger froze in horror. "No...no, it can't be..." said Bai Hu's voice in dismay.

"Bai Hu, is that you?" said the dragoness in surprised amusement, looking directly at White Tiger.

"I'm not the only one in the wrong body," she said with a chuckle, not noticing that one of her hands clenched.

"Qinglong, what happened to you?" asked Bai Hu.

"The same thing that's happened to you, but you didn't spend millennia in a dark cave," said Qinglong.

"You...you let him out...why?" said Bai Hu.

Qinglong snapped, "Because unlike humans, he did not forget me."

Bai Hu sighed and said, "Your imprisonment in the amulet has also driven you mad. But there is a way to cure your madness."

"What's that? A new body? I already have one and it's not human," sneered Qinglong, the snow around them rippling before rusted spears lifted out the snow. "And it comes with some useful powers of its own. Goodbye, brother. I hope you're smarter next time," said Qinglong loftily before clicking her talons, the spears shooting forward...and stopping in the air, inches from their targets. "What?" snapped the dragoness angrily.

"Just for the record, I won't get in trouble for fighting an old god, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"It is our duty to fight Qinglong and free Silvana," said Iron Fist.

"Just checking," said Spider-Man before spraying webbing over Qinglong's eyes. The dragoness roared, trying to pull the webbing off, managing to pull some off just before Iron fist punched her.

"Find the amulet," said White Tiger, "It has to be on her somewhere."

Spider-Man dodged a blinded blow and Qinglong roared, "Little vermin...you dare attack me?" A small glint was seen as she swung around.

"I'm trying to do this as painlessly as possible," said Spider-Man, shooting a webline between the cave wall and Qinglong's claw.

"Hey!" snapped Qinglong, getting a surprised look as she wasn't able to pull free. "This...is my body now," she snapped.

"We've got some people who would like to contest that," said Spider-Man.

"WHO?" roared Qinglong angrily.

"Me," said White Tiger before leaping onto Qinglong's back.

"No...get off-" snapped Qinglong...

* * *

"...Me," he said, almost falling over from the sudden move to the spectral realm. "Is this your plan?" he called angrily.

"You have to calm down, Qinglong," said Bai Hu, appearing before the dragon.

"Calm? I would be if she'd SHUT UP!" snapped Qinglong.

Bai Hu realized he could hear faintly, a female voice singing, "This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because...This is the song that never ends..."

Suddenly Qinglong's anger during their fight was making a little bit of sense.

"Focus your attention on me then," said Bai Hu.

"With pleasure!" snapped Qinglong before launching at the tiger.

The two clashed, Qinglong knocking Bai Hu flying and following, not noticing a second being in his head.

Ava finally stood up once she was sure the fighting was far enough away before she followed the singing to Silvana, chained as if to a wall and singing at the top of her lungs.

"Silvana, you can stop singing now!" called Ava.

"Not fooling me. You tried Peter earlier," said Silvana, somehow working the words into her song before continuing till Ava slapped her. "Ow...hey, he said he couldn't do that. Ava?" Silvana said in surprise.

"How did you get trapped in here?" asked Ava.

"I met a nasty dragon. He's a real strong psychic too. He made me grab some pendant and then I was here and another dragon was controlling me," said Silvana, the chains vanishing.

"Wait, how did-" started Ava

"The chains were just for show," said Silvana cheerfully.

"Right. Well, can we focus on getting back control of your body now?" asked Ava.

"How? I tried but that jerk's really strong," said Silvana gloomily.

"Well, you have my help now," said Ava, "And Bai Hu is keeping Qinglong busy right now."

Silvana nodding, before pausing, "Who?"

"Don't you remember the story about the Four Holy Beasts?" asked Ava.

"Wait...that's the jerk using my body?" snapped Silvana, her eyes glowing and a faint rumble heard like a far off earthquake.

"To be fair, he isn't in his right mind," said Ava, "Being trapped in an amulet that's been in a dark cave would do that."

Silvana didn't seem to be listening. "A GUARDIAN SHOULD KNOW BETTER!" she roared, her body surging in size to a more adult form.

"I guess you can do things in the spirit plane that you can't do in the real world," said Ava.

Silvana was now a rather elegant-looking adult dragon, though the elegance was beset by the fact that red energy was literally crackling around her. "Qinglong!" she roared angrily, a definite shaking felt.

"Er, I think I'll get back to my own head now," said Ava.

Silvana glared at that, before she smiled in her same chirpy personality, though her voice sounded more adult, "Oh no...I want an audience."

"Er, are you sure? Qinglong may have been driven mad, but he's still an immortal," said Ava.

"Hmm...in that case..." said Silvana. With several ratchets, clicks, clangs, and other metallic sounds, Silvana became a large robotic dragon.

* * *

Qinglong spat a blast of fire at Bai Hu. "I was always stronger, brother," he roared.

"That's not how I remember it," said Bai Hu before sending a strong wind at Qinglong.

The dragon shielded himself before he snarled. "Chiantang helped me resist that," he sneered before both paused as the mindscape shook with a distant roar of 'Qinglong'.

"I think you've underestimated your host," said Bai Hu.

Qinglong turned in time for him to be pinned to the ground, Silvana landing, her eyes glowing red. "You think you can take my body and use it? Guardians should know better," she snarled.

"I don't even know what that word means anymore," snarled Qinglong.

"Then you aren't worthy of the title," snarled Silvana, her eyes blazing brighter and Qinglong being crushed deeper into the ground.

"Hold your wrath," said Bai Hu, "He is unwell. Do not blame him for his current madness."

"He wanted to use my body like some...clothing," snapped Silvana, putting more force on Qinglong. "He released a monster," she added furiously.

"I told you he is not in his right mind," said Bai Hu.

Silvana looked at Qinglong before she said darkly, "His minds practically in knots." before, with a rather nasty smile, she said, "Let's fix that."

"That is enough," said Bai Hu before his eyes started glowing white. His hands also glowed white before he placed them on each of the dragons' heads.

Silvana's eyes crossed before glowing white, Qinglong's eyes doing the same, though ripples spread out across his form.

"I didn't know you could do that," said Ava, walking over to Bai Hu.

"I was the healer of the Guardians," said Bai Hu.

"Huh, I wouldn't have-" started Ava.

Silvana snapped out of it first, pinning Bai Hu and growling "Never go into my head again."

"Isn't that where we are right now?" asked Ava.

"It's more complicated than that," said Bai Hu.

"Just leave," said Silvana, shrinking down to her younger form before adding with a snap at the stirring Qinglong, "And take your rubbish with you." before her form exploded into silvery smoke

Qinglong looked around in confusion. "What...what have I been doing?" he asked, "Oh, wait. I remember. Chiantang..."

"It was not your fault..." began Bai Hu quickly only for Qinglong to say "Then whose fault is it? I released him..."

"If you released him, then why hasn't he left the cave yet?" asked Ava.

"He is weak. He hasn't fed for millenia. He has corrupted our brothers. He wished for us to destroy K'un-L'un on his behalf," said Qinglong calmly.

"But if he did the same thing to them that he did to you two, he'd need someone to wear those amulets...wait..." said Ava.

"Two humans arrived before you..." said Qinglong.

"How long have we been in here?" asked Ava.

"To the mortal realm? A few seconds," said Qinglong.

"Probably still a little too long to leave the guys alone," said Ava.

"The others left before you arrived. I was commanded to guard Chiantang till he recovered," said Qinglong, before looking at them, "You cannot stop him alone. So there is something I must do."

"I know what you'll try to do. But I don't think she'll be convinced so easily," said Bai Hu.

"I can give no aid as a bodiless spirit," said Qinglong sagely.

"If you're talking about who I think you're talking about, I think she can be convinced if you tell her she'll need to if she wants to save everyone in K'un-L'un," said Ava.

"I have controlled her enough. I will give her the truth and let her decide," said Qinglong calmly before his form also vanished in a similar style.

"Do you think he'll convince her?" asked Ava.

"I have confidence. But what we don't have is time," said Bai Hu.

* * *

Silvana was laying down, in a happier memory, from before she and her clan had been resurrected. She smiled as she saw her family, not as robotic creatures but of flesh and blood, like she partially was, before she frowned. "I know you're there. I thought they were taking you too," she said darkly, the scene fading into black around her.

"I'm afraid we don't have time for idle daydreams," said Qinglong as he appeared beside her, "Chiantang still needs to be stopped."

"And we will. Now get out," snapped Silvana, glaring at Qinglong.

"You don't understand. He still has two more Holy Beasts under his control and their hosts won't be wanting to cooperate," said Qinglong, "The only way to stop them is if we work together."

"Why would I even think of teaming up with someone who used me like some puppet?" snapped Silvana.

"I was still a puppet myself," said Qinglong, "Chiantang was the one pulling the strings."

"How can I trust you? You twisted every part of me," snapped Silvana.

"I do not intend to share your body for long," said Qinglong, "Only long enough to stop Chiantang. Then you can give the amulet to someone who deserves it."

Silvana glared, before extending a paw. "If I even sense you pulling a fast one, I'll eat your damn amulet," she snarled.

"I wouldn't recommend it, but I see your point," said Qinglong.

The two grasped paws before everything went white...

* * *

Silvana's eyes shot wide, her body sending mixed messages, mostly as she was still in her transformed body. "I feel a little queasy," she said.

Qinglongs voice in her head said, "That is your new magic. It will pass shortly."

Silvana shook her head and looked at herself again. "Ugh, that's far too much spine," she said, "It looks like I could slip a disc easily."

"Oh please," said Qinglong in her head before saying, "Your friends are talking to you. To them, you've been talking to the air for the last minute."

Silvana turned to look to the others. "Er, I'm sure whatever you're doing has been interesting, but we have an evil dragon to stop, remember?" asked Spider-Man.

"No, we have to stop Scorpion and Kraven first," said Silvana.

"Chiantang has sent them ahead," added White Tiger.

"We can't let Chiantang leave the cave," said Iron Fist, "We'll need to split up."

"So who's going where?" asked Silvana.

"Me and White Tiger will have to stop Chiantang," said Iron Fist.

"Just us?" asked White Tiger.

"When it comes to most magical beings, the very first thing that's ever defeated them will always be effective on them," said Iron Fist, "It was the power of Shao-Lao and Bai Hu that defeated Chiantang the first time. It will take their power to defeat him again."

"Meaning I have to deal with the morons who attacked me in metal?" said Silvana.

"Spider-Man will be going with you," said White Tiger.

"Say what now?" asked Spider-Man.

"Even if she's wielding the power of a Holy Beast, she might not be able to take on both of them at once," said White Tiger.

"They tried to fight a ferromancer encased in metal," pointed out Silvana.

"They have their own Holy Beasts now," said White Tiger pointedly.

"Silvana paused, before saying, "Good point."

"So, should I bother with trying to reach out to the villains inside the monsters?" asked Spider-Man.

"You could try to appeal to their inner humanity," said Iron Fist. Spider-Man, White Tiger, and Silvana just gave him flat looks. "Or you could enrage them so much that they can't resist the urge to attack you," said Iron Fist.

Silvana smiled. "Oh, I know how to do that. Master Lynch taught me everything he knows," she said eagerly.

"Yeah, but you don't know them personally enough to really get under their skin," said Spider-Man.

"Matt said that I can get under anyone's skin," said Silvana.

"You're not talking in the literal sense, are you?" asked Spider-Man.

"No...that'd be like that weirdo in engineering," said Silvana happily.

* * *

"You know, riding on a flying dragon wasn't something I thought I'd ever do. Well, I guess I did it before. Though that was Loki using my body so I don't think it counts. But it's probably one of the best ways to travel."

Silvana blinked before Qinglong said in her head, "Why is he talking to the air?"

"It's just something he does," replied Silvana, "Just ignore it."

"Oh, now then. The most easy to annoy will be the phoenix. He was always a hothead," said Qinglong carefully.

"Is he an actual phoenix?" asked Silvana.

"Well, not quite the same way as you westerners think. But Zhu Qiao does have a very fiery temper. But Xuanwu will be harder. But then, I'm not sure what all those years of imprisonment has done to him," said Qinglong.

"He's a tortoise. I can probably keep ahead of him by walking briskly," said Silvana sarcastically.

"Don't underestimate him. He was the Guardian of the North for a reason," said Qinglong.

"But there's nothing north of here. Just empty Siberia," said Silvana.

"There were greater problems coming from the frozen north long ago," said Qinglong, "Have you ever heard of frost giants?"

"Weren't they the vikings' problem?" asked Silvana, blinking as she heard the slap of something facepalming.

"Well, the Red Bird should stand out pretty easily here," said Silvana.

"Vermillion. He's very particular about his color," said Qinglong.

Silvana thought about that.

* * *

3 days before the gang headed to the Marvel verse...

"Ok, if your target's particular about something, always get it wrong. Pointing and laughing while doing it works well too," said Matt, Silvana taking notes. Then Matt said, "Ok, I'll show...HEY NEGAMORPH!"

A skillet flew through the air and beaned Matt in the head, knocking him out. "Huh, he didn't even get started," commented Silvana. She paused before saying "He's that good." in awe.

* * *

"Ok..." she said calmly, before roaring, "VERMILLION'S JUST A FANCY NAME FOR RED!"

"I think you need something with a little more bite," said Spider-Man, "Let me try." He then called loudly, "Hey, has anyone seen the Raspberry Bird around here?"

Silvana nodded, her and Qinglong saying in unison "That'll do it."

An angry screech in the distance was heard yelling "WHO SAID THAT?!"

"Now whose voice was that?" asked Spider-Man, "I'm pretty sure I know who that was."

"I think I know who it was. It was a complete dou-" began Silvana. Just then, a fireball nearly hit her.

There was a loud squawk as a fiery flying figure shot out of the clouds below. Once it got close, they could see it was a giant crow with vermillion feathers. It was pretty easy to see who was the host as the crow was wearing leonine-based armor and had a black crest as well as a black beard circling its serrated beak.

Qinglong rolled his eyes, the spirits able to see each other. "Zhu Qiao, that look is not you. There was a perfectly good K'un-L'un student as well, you know." The bird only let out an angry screech before flying straight at the dragon. "Oh for goodness sake," muttered Qinglong before saying to Silvana, "He favours his left."

"Hang on tight," said Silvana to Spider-Man.

"That's why I have wall-crawling- WHOOOOOAAAAA!" yelped Spider-Man, the last part when Silvana spiraled through the air towards the bird. Silvana and Zhao barely missed one another, though she cheekily slapped him as he passed with her tail.

Spider-Man swallowed the lunch that had threatened to escape and said, "You'll want to be careful. If he's using Kraven's body, that may mean he has Kraven's powers."

"Kraven doesn't have powers," said Silvana, "Only hunting tools."

Spider-Man jolted at that, his spider-sense going into overdrive as a giant burning net suddenly got into Silvana's path. Silvana couldn't react fast enough to avoid the net, which soon ensnare her. Of course, that meant she started falling.

"Not one word," snarled Silvana at Spider-Man as they plummeted.

"Can't talk, avoid deadly crash," said Spider-Man as he shot some weblines through the net's gaps and made a parachute.

"I weigh several tonnes at the mome-No that was not a reference to your weight," snapped Silvana, yelling the next part at the air next to her.

"Can't you do something to at least slow down your falling?" asked Spider-Man, "Like magnetize yourself or some other metal manipulation thing?"

"I am not checking to see if magnetizing makes me wanna sing country western," snapped Silvana.

"Well do something. I don't think it's going to feel good when you hit the ground at this speed," said Spider-Man.

"LIKE WHAT?" roared Silvana before her eyes crossed and Qinglong's voice said "If you want something done..." before she clapped her hands together, their fall slowing.

"I didn't know you could do that," said Spider-Man.

"It's actually a standard thing for us Asian dragons," said Qinglong, "We don't have to rely on cumbersome wings to fly." She paused before she said sagely, "There is no reason for that language, young drake. You were about to literally argue yourself to death."

"Uh, you think you can drop a little faster?" asked Spider-Man, whose spider-sense was going off again. The reason why was clear as flaming knives were starting to rain down on them.

"Oh look, hot food," said Silvana sarcastically.

"I don't think the chi infused with those daggers will agree with you," said Qinglong.

"Worse than being stabbed with them?" replied Silvana

"No, but don't let the chi collect in you," said Qinglong, "Spit it out as soon as you can."

Silvana nodded, spinning and opening her mouth, swallowing the knives before twitching and burping a burst of fire. "Spicy," she rasped.

"Yeah, and he's bound to have more. So I think we should DROP!" yelped Spider-Man, his spider-sense warning him of the large boulder that was being thrown at them.

Silvana yelped before weaving round it on reflex. "Ok...this is where you get off," she snapped at Spider-Man.

"We've still got a net here, remember?" pointed out Spider-Man.

Silvana snarled before biting into the net and tearing it apart. "Problem solved," she snarled.

"Ok, I guess I'll be fighting the turtle now," said Spider-Man.

"Tortoise," corrected Qinglong.

"Whatever," said Spider-Man before jumping off the dragon's back and creating a web parachute.

Silvana turned to see Zhao chasing her. "Ok, budgie features," she snarled.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man had landed on the ground. "Ok, if the Red Bird is using Kraven's body, then that means that the Black Turtle..." His spider-sense told him to turn around.

Coming out from behind a rock was what looked like a humanoid tortoise with greenish-black armor, though he had the pincers and tail of a scorpion. "Whoa, and I thought that Scorpion/Whirlwind synthezoid was ugly," said Spider-Man.

"You are the Man of Spiders my host despises?" said the creature calmly.

"I'm pretty sure there's someone he despises more," said Spider-Man.

"The current Iron Fist...but he seems happy to deal with you. However, it would be dishonourable to not allow you a chance to withdraw," said the tortoise calmly with a bow of his head.

"Uh, wasn't planning on it, but I'm surprised I'm even given the option," said Spider-Man.

"I expected as much but I had to ask," said the turtle, his hands glowing purple.

"You do realize I have a significant speed advantage," said Spider-Man before webbing the tortoise's feet to the ground, "Especially now."

"I believe there is a fable in the west regarding the tortoise and the hare," said the tortoise calmly, the rocks around Spider-Man also starting to glow.

"Yeah, but I don't have time to be slow and steady," said Spider-Man before leaping away from the glowing rocks.

"You have all the time in the world," said the tortoise with a gentle smile.

* * *

Meanwhile, Iron Fist and White Tiger were descending into the cave. The further in they went, the worse the smell was getting. "I guess that Chiantang doesn't have a bathtub down here," said White Tiger, who was covering her more sensitive nose.

Bai Hu appeared next to her like a ghost, "The great dragons can live for eons without sustenance, simply relying on the chi of the universe."

"So being trapped down here hasn't weakened him at all," said White Tiger.

"I never said that," said Bai Hu, "In fact, this particular cave was chosen because of its lack of ley lines. Chiantang has been starving for a long time."

"Yes...I am, little spirit," said a deep voice from further in the cave.

Iron Fist and White Tiger paused at that. "If you could leave this cave, you would have done so by now," said Iron Fist, "You are weakened, old dragon."

"I agree, wielder of the Iron Fist. Is that old traitor still giving that out? I thought a few thousand years separated from his people would have sent him insane," chuckled the voice of Chiantang, before saying, "That said, some food has just arrived. Just what I need to feel like my old self."

"You're going to find us hard to chew," said Iron Fist.

"Hard to chew? That's your best line?" asked White Tiger.

"Not everything is ageless wisdom," said Iron Fist.

"Waaiiiit...you're a westerner. Shao-Lao must have taken pity for some _Wàiguó rén_ to take the power," sneered Chiantang.

"I earned my power," said Iron Fist, "A concept you never learned."

"You attempted to kill the dragon king," called Bai Hu before a roar of anger was heard.

"He was not worthy of the title!" roared Chiantang.

"Villains seldom have a proper concept of worthiness," said Iron Fist.

"Oh...oh, ho, ho. You're trying to make me angry..." sneered Chiantang's voice, the crunch of paws on gravel heard.

"Perhaps we should have brought Spider-Man after all," said Iron Fist.

"No spider clan will help you," sneered the dragon's voice, before a pair of green reptilian eyes appeared in the dark.

"You better be right about his weakness," said White Tiger as she bared her claws.

"Weaknesses?" sneered the dragon, before roaring "I HAVE NO WEAKNESSES!"

"If that were true, you wouldn't have ended up in this cave," taunted Bai Hu.

"I was weakened, breaking the wills of your fellow Guardians," sneereds Chiantang

"You won't be able to hide behind that excuse this time," said Bai Hu.

"No...I suppose I won't..." said Chiantang calmly.

"Be ready," said Bai Hu, "Chiantang fights without honor, so he try something unexpected like-"

Chiantang's tail lashed out at snake speed, barely missing the two but leaving a deep scratch in the stone. "Didn't think he had the room to maneuver in here," said White Tiger.

An orange glow was seen at that before a blast of flame shot out. "I don't think being locked in here has made him too weak," said Iron Fist.

"You are right, little prince," sneered Chiantang, finally coming into view, ebony scales shining in what little light there was. He almost looked regal, an eastern dragon, apart from the bat wings on his back, folded neatly. However, it was clear that centuries in this cave has done a number on him. He was very thin, his skin taut against his bones. But there was still wiry strength in his body.

"Even at my weakest I can crush you both." rored Chiantang, swiping out with razor sharp claws.

Iron Fist and White Tiger jumped out of the way of the claws, which easily left gouges in the rock. "Yeah, I think weak for a dragon is still very strong by human standards," said White Tiger.

"You think correct," said Bai Hu, Chiantang laughing in an almost manic tone.

"It sounds like the isolation's also unhinged him," said White Tiger, "Which makes sense. If Sandman went bonkers from spending who knows how long on a tropical island, being in a dark cave for centuries would wear even a dragon thin."

"When I'm out of here, the empire might actually be worth its name," laughed Chiantang, sending another blast of fire at Iron Fist.

Iron Fish punched the fireball, scattering it. "Is K'un-L'un even an empire?" asked White Tiger.

"That depends on your definition of 'empire'," said Iron Fist.

"I mean China..." snapped Chiantang before pausing, with a look of shock.

"China stopped being an empire a long time ago," said Iron Fist.

Chiantang's eye twitched at that before he roared "LIES!"

"Probably a bad time to bring up the Boxer Rebellion?" asked White Tiger.

"It's never a good time to bring up the Boxer Rebellion," said Iron Fist.

"You...DISGUSTING WORMS!" roared Chiantang, lunging at them in a mad state.

White Tiger and Iron Fist were just barely avoiding his attacks. "Ok, he's definitely crazy. Is there a way to use this to our advantage?" asked Iron Fist.

"He'll make mistakes..." began White Tiger, before she saw the dragon bearing down on her, Bai Hu snapping "STRIKE!"

White Tiger slashed out with her claws. There was a flash of white and Chiantang reared back with a shriek, clutching his face. "I barely felt a thing," said White Tiger, looking at her claws.

"At the moment you are a celestial guardian. You fight against dark creatures such at this," scolded Bai Hu.

"And the Iron Fist was created to fight evil," said Iron Fist before leaping forward and punching the Black Dragon in the chest.

Chiantang's eyes widened as the wind was knocked out of him. "How DARE YOU?" he roared.

"The power of Shao-Lao defeated you once. It will do so again," said Iron Fist.

"I will not be locked away for another thousand years. I WILL DIE FIRST!" roared Chiantang.

"I think that can be arranged," said Bai Hu.

"NEVER!" roared Chiantang, the walls shaking.

Ava spoke quietly to Bai Hu, "Notice how the cave is shaking? Do think that Chiantang is weakened enough that if there was a cave-in, it would kill him?"

"Maybe," said Bai Hu thoughtfully.

"But we better soften him up first to make sure it will finish him," said Ava.

"Then fight!" snapped Bai Hu as Chiantang lunged only for a blow from Iron Fist to knock him to the side.

White Tiger roared before running down Chiantang's side, leaving long scratches in her wake. Chiantang roared in pain, his eye blinded by the slash as he swept his claws blindly. "Iron Fist, punch every spot I scratch him," said White Tiger, "It will hurt him a lot."

Iron Fist nodded, dealing a blow to the wound on the dragon's face, causing him to give a keening high pitched cry of pain.

"Ok, need to make one more mark," said White Tiger before leaping forward, slashing a large X on Chiantang's chest. Chiantang reared in pain at the blow at that.

"Time to end this," said Iron Fist, both fists glowing with golden light. He charged at the black dragon, the golden aura spreading over the rest of his body. As he jumped, the aura seemed to take on the shape of a golden dragon. It may seem like it was the dragon's jaws that struck Chiantang's chest, but it was Iron Fist's closed hands that struck the X on his chest.

Chiantang roared in pain before looking down to see golden cracks spreading from the blow. "No...it's impossible...HOW DARE YOU?" he snapped, scrabbling at the cracks.

"It is what you were destined for," said Iron Fist.

Chiantang glared before starting to laugh. "That's not the way evil villains react to their impending doom," said White Tiger with concern.

"Just...irony...do not forget to tell Shao-Lao of this victory...he will be...SO..." Chiantang roared before he exploded into golden sparks.

"Is it over?" asked Iron Fist with uncertainty.

Just then, White Tiger grimaced in pain before falling to her hands and knees. She shifted back to human form as she clutched the Tiger Amulet, which had golden cracks in it. "We need to get to the others, fast," she said.

* * *

"Very good. You almost had me that time," said the tortoise with every sign of sincerity.

"You're too polite to be a bad guy," said Spider-Man. Meanwhile, the dragon and the phoenix were engaged in aerial combat.

"Were you always this sensitive about your looks?" taunted Silvana. The bird just screech angrily. "Were you at least a better conversationalist before?" she asked dryly.

"I WILL TEAR OUT YOUR TONGUE!" snapped Zhu Qiao at that, lunging only to suddenly twitch, his amulet glowing faintly.

"Huh, is that-" started Silvana before her own amulet started glowing.

"It is done..." said Qinglong as their opponent fell from the sky, a puff of snow below showing where he'd landed.

At the same time, the amulet on the scorpion/tortoise's chest started glowing and cracking. "At long last..." sighed Xuanwu.

"Take me off...TAKE ME-" began Qinglong in a panic, surprising Silvana before the amulet exploded.

Iron Fist came racing down the mountainside, holding White Tiger who seemed to be in pain. "Spider-Man, have the other amulets started breaking?" called Iron Fist.

"They're glowing if that's what you mean," said Spider-Man.

"The Holy Beasts are being freed," called Iron Fist, "Chiantang has been destroyed."

The tortoise shook as a purple energy flowed out and into the sky, leaving scorpion who fell backwards into the snow with a groan.

Soon after that, a red burst of light shot out of the snowbank where the bird had fallen. Kraven soon stood up out of the snow. "Ugh...what happened? How did I get here?" he asked in confusion.

He looked around before spotting White Tiger and Iron Fist, who were yet to notice him. He smirked, reaching for one of his blades...before he heard a bang above...and Silvana landed on him, the two turning.

"I don't wanna go to flying school today, mummy," said Silvana in a gleefully dazed voice, her face blackened and her eyes spiralling.

White Tiger was still clutching the Tiger Amulet, its ancient surface now radiating with golden cracks. She could feel all her power being pulled out of her. Finally, with a loud roar, the amulet shattered as white light shot out of it.

"It's...it's gone," she said, sounding surprised. She'd worn the amulet for so long, had her powers so long that it felt...weird to feel normal again.

The moment was slightly spoilt as the concussed Silvana continued, "I wanna stay home in the cave and eat mutton."

Kraven's muffled voice saying with a groan, "Get this lizard off me."

"So, is that it?" asked Spider-Man, "The Four Holy Beasts' spirits are free and everyone goes home?"

"Almost," said a voice from above.

The group looked up, Silvana saying dizzily "Flying kitty." before passing out.

Floating in the air was Bai Hu. It was pretty clear that Bai Hu was a spirit now, his body mostly made of a translucent white energy. "I thank you. My brothers are free...mostly," he said.

"Are you not staying in K'un-L'un?" asked Iron Fist.

"We can't," said Bai Hu, "Our time has passed. It is time for us to move on to the Spirit World. But we will be able to protect K'un-L'un from there."

"What about Ava?" asked Spider-Man.

"I have given careful thought ever since I learned the history of the amulet's caretakers. I wasn't sure if we would be able to free myself and the others, but I wondered what would happen if we would. Her family no longer has to look after me, but perhaps now I can return the favor. The world needs heroes and it would be wrong to take away the White Tiger," said Bai Hu.

With that, Bai Hu clasped his hands together before waving his arms together in a circle around him, leaving a white glowing circle in the air. The circle filled in to form a yin-yang symbol. Bai Hu then put his hands together and thrust them forward, causing the symbol to start float down to Ava, shrinking down into an orb as it went. When it stopped in front of her, it solidified into a copy of the Tiger Amulet, except this one was made out of gold. "May the power of the white tiger serve you well," said Bai Hu calmly.

Ava took the new Tiger Amulet, almost too in awe to hold it. "Is it...just like the old one?" she asked.

"Well, the tiger power within won't be trying to turn you savage all the time," said Bai Hu, "As long as its wielder is worthy anyways."

Ava looked at the amulet before putting it on, feeling the familiar sensations returning, though they felt smoother, not the constant fight.

"That said, don't let fools like this one take it," said Bai Hu, pointing down.

"But I wanna pet the kitty," said Silvana dizzily.

"Not that fool, the one underneath her," amended Bai Hu.

Silvana got a frown before reaching under her and pulling a struggling Kraven out. "I found teddy," she said, Kraven glaring and trying to stab her, the knife melting into her skin till it was just the hilt. "Aw...can I keep him?" she said, giving him a bone-crunching hug.

Iron Fist put Ava down and said, "Excuse me, I think I need to attend to someone." Iron Fist turned to where Scorpion was just starting to come round. "I'm not surprised you tried to return despite your exile," said Iron Fist, "But I am disappointed."

"The throne of K'un-L'un belongs to me. You have led more outsiders here," snapped Scorpion.

"And you've brought one worse than them," said Iron Fist, pointing at Kraven.

"Yeah! Wait, we're not that bad, are we?" asked Spider-Man.

"He was a means to an end!" snapped Scorpion, adding, "He wanted a dragon to hunt. He would not have even stepped foot in the valley had _that_ not interfered." pointing at Silvana who frowned before smiling, looking past Scorpion who was suddenly in shadow.

"Is that so?" said a calm but cold voice.

Scorpion slowly turned around to see a huge red dragon looming over him. "But...that's impossible," said Scorpion, "You're supposed to be dead."

"How do you think I earnt my title?" said the dragon darkly, looking at Iron Fist and giving a brief bow of his head, the bow of one master to another, "So, you thought to challenge the power Master Daniel earned from me by taking power from Chiantang... How could stupidly arrogant can you be?"

"I am the rightful-" began Scorpion before Shao-Lao's eyes glowed and Scorpion froze in pose.

"Arrogant enough that you would dare speak to me in that tone," said Shao-Lao darkly.

"I didn't know you could do that," said Iron Fist, "You could have done that to me during our fight."

Shao-Lao got a smug smile, "Master Daniel...that would have been cheating."

"This probably isn't going to make a difference to Scorpion, will it?" asked Spider-Man.

"No, I have seen his kind before. He will never accept this. His ego would never allow it," said Shao-Lao, before looking around. "Now then, I sensed some...old friends but they don't appear to be around," he said calmly, looking around.

White Tiger looked up, but Bai Hu had disappeared. "They're in the Spirit Realm now," she said, a little sadly.

"Ah...as I thought, but he has left his power to you, young one." said Shao-Lao in a surprisingly kind tone, before pausing, looking around. "But there is another who has been granted power here," said Shao-Lao before looking at Silvana.

Silvana looked over her shoulder before she said "Who, me?"

Shao-Lao took Kraven from her before glaring. "And you, so-called hunter. You are certainly not welcome here," he snarled. Shao-Lao picked up Scorpion and growled, "I should just send you to the spirit world right now."

"No, they don't deserve that," said Ava.

Shao-Lao seemed surprised. "Really?" he said in mild surprise, his eyes glowing for a second before he said, "Not even this one?" he asked, holding Kraven up higher.

"Well...not this way. He needs to face human justice for his crimes," said Ava.

Shao-Lao paused before he turned his gaze on the two who fell unconscious. "Take this filth. They will never set foot here again."

"Didn't stop Scorpion this time though," said Spider-Man.

"When he wakes, he'll never remember how to return to K'un-L'un," said Shao-Lao, "As far as I am concerned, he is no son of K'un-L'un."

The two villains glowed before vanishing. "They won't even remember this little misadventure," Shao-Lao said evilly.

"Ok, I guess then we just head on back to New York now," said Spider-Man before shivering, "After warming back up in the monastery first."

Shao-Lao frowned at that, the heroes tensing up before the dragon chuckled with amusement. "Of course, I forget my manners. If you will go ahead, I wish a word with your companion," he said, looking over at Silvana.

"Me?" asked Silvana nervously.

"Yes...you," said Shao-Lao.

"But I'm...not like you," said Silvana.

"You are dragonkin. That is enough," said Shao-Lao sagely.

"What do you want with me?" asked Silvana.

"You were Qinglong's vessel, yes?" said Shao-Lao, Silvana nodding with a worried expression, watching as the others walked out of sight, before she yelped, covering her face as Shao-Lao sent a blast of flame at her, which instead, as her hands glowed blue, flowed around and into her. "As I thought, you kept some of his power," said Shao-Lao as if nothing had happened.

"I didn't mean to," said Silvana.

"Of course, but you cannot leave with them as you are," said Shao-Lao.

"Excuse me?" said Silvana.

"You are young. It took Qinglong many centuries to learn to control his gifts, some of which you now have," said Shao-Lao.

"I don't have centuries to learn them," said Silvana, "I don't know how long my friends and I are going to be on this world, but it surely won't be that long."

"I can teach you, teach you enough that you can control your new powers. The rest will be in your claws, child," said Shao-Lao, before his expression softened as best it could, "I can sense a great sadness inside you. You are alone...but I do not think it will be forever."

"There's a very long time between now and forever," said Silvana sadly.

"Do not lose hope," said Shao, placing a kind claw on her shoulder.

Silvana sighed and said, "It would be easier to hold onto if I knew things would turn out alright."

"One should never know one's future," said Shao-Lao, "But for your more immediate future, it would help if I taught you the basics of your new powers."

"Well, I don't suppose an extended stay could hurt," said Silvana.

* * *

On the jet ride home, Ava examined her new amulet. It was odd having an amulet made of gold after having a jade one for so long. Being made of gold made it a little heavier and made it stand out a bit more. Though the tiger spirit had already told her a charm to make the amulet better concealed and not so tempting to thieves.

But more important was the tiger spirit within the amulet. It was no longer a raging beast constantly fighting to get out. Though Ava couldn't call it tamed. But at least this tiger respected the hand who wielded, at least as long as it was respected. An unworthy person could be overwhelmed quickly, even a careless owner could find themselves becoming more like a beast.

Though Ava herself had nothing to worry. Having to deal with a ferocious beast for years, this new tiger would be much easier for her. Perhaps she could allow herself to loosen up and not be so hard-driven to succeed… On the other hand, why mess with a good thing? One thing for certain was that the future was much brighter.

* * *

There's another chapter. This one's rather different from the other chapters, though I do use elements from the Iron Fist comics. The comics didn't seem to have a proper origin for the Tiger Amulet, so I thought I'd create my own. I borrowed some elements from the Kung Fu Panda series, which I thinks works well here.

Anyways, the next chapter will be up on Thursday, which is Halloween. Keep an eye out for it and please review.


	18. Cat's Eye Moon

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 18: Cat's Eye Moon**

"Nothing like a trip abroad to make you really appreciate home. K'un-L'un was nice, but it's nice to be back in the ol' US of A. Sure, K'un-L'un may have beautiful clean mountaintops, quiet valleys, and peaceful, but underneath New York's air pollution-choked buildings, loud streets, and rude civilians...where was I going with this?"

The far door opened and Matt walked in. "Oh...warmth. No sudden polar bears or Hulks," said Matt happily before spotting Spider-Man. "Hey, man," he said cheerfully.

"So...you went up north?" asked Spider-Man.

"Yeah, and you were having fun in Asia," said Matt. "Not quite as much fun as you might think," said Spider-Man.

"Oh yeah? Angry Hulks, giant werewolf, angry werewolf spirits," said Matt, counting off his fingers.

"Kraven, Scorpion, tiger god, evil dragons, good dragons," countered Spider-Man.

"Yeah...about that, where's Silvana?" asked Matt, before adding, "Oh and one of my crew members ate something called the Tesseract."

"She stayed in K'un-L'un for mystic training so- Did you say the Tesseract?" asked Spider-Man.

"Yeah, looked like a giant glowing paperweight," said Matt conversationally, as Chloe walked in, grumbling and, to Spider-Man's surprise, human again.

"Wait, when did Chloe turn back?" asked Spider-Man.

"Hmm? Oh, after we discovered she was slowly dying from manticore venom so we had to give her gamma radiation therapy," said Matt casually. Spider-Man paused at that, Matt saying, "So what's the big deal about the Tesseract?"

"Uh...cosmic energy source, Red Skull nearly used it to take over the world," said Spider-Man, not sure if he had a grasp on the situation.

"Oh, doomsday weapon...doomsday weapon?" said Matt.

"Did I hear you say 'gamma radiation'?" asked Spider-Man.

"Yeah, she's fine now. Though we had to tame the raging beast inside her first," said Matt, "So...Tesseract...horrifying doomsday weapon? Can warp time and space?"

"Has certain reality-warping properties if what I hear is right," said Spider-Man.

"Oh dear God help us all," said Matt with worry, before he snapped, "Do...not...tell...Chloe."

"Uh..." started Spider-Man. But Chloe mouthed at him, 'Don't say anything'. She didn't seem as perturbed as Matt was.

"She'll Hulk out and KILL US ALL!" snapped Matt.

"Literally Hulk out?" asked Spider-Man. Chloe had raised her hands and was counting down her fingers.

Matt twitched before screaming, "YES! SHE'LL BECOME MINDLESS! TRY TO PUNCH ME!" Chloe paused at that and frowning, her eyes starting to glow green. "Maybe you should calm down," said Spider-Man.

"YOU DIDN'T SEE IT!" snapped Matt, Chloe starting to twitch.

"Not yet," said Spider-Man.

"What are you talking ab-urk." said Matt, a furred fist grabbing him by the neck.

"Matthew, don't you know it's not polite to gossip behind people's back?" asked Chloe, now in the form of a She-Hulk-sized, golden-furred werewolf.

"I have now learnt that," said Matt nervously, adding, "Please don't hurt me."

"Later," said Chloe before tucking Matt under her arm, "So, Peter, how was Nepal?"

"We were closer to, uh... I suppose I shouldn't really tell too much about where K'un-L'un is," said Spider-Man.

"Oh, that place Iron Fist's from?" said Chloe conversationally.

"Yeah, we learned a lot about where Ava's amulet had came from," said Spider-Man.

"Cool," said Chloe cheerfully, dropping Matt 'accidentally' who said in a grumble "So..where's it from?"

"Well, it used to be the prison for one of the guardian spirits that protected Asia until an evil dragon sealed him into the amulet," said Spider-Man.

"Used to be?" said Chloe carefully.

"Yeah, we freed him and the other three," said Spider-Man, "But he gave Ava a new amulet, one that should allow her to ease up on herself."

"Oh that's nice. Tell me, how calm would you be if a moron with infinite imagination and no self-control swallowed a reality-altering super weapon?" said Chloe, her smile a little strained.

"Uh, that wouldn't be that moron, would it?" asked Spider-Man, pointing at a figure that came around the corner. It was wearing a black trench coat and a matching wide-brimmed fedora. He was considerably shorter than Spider-Man and it seemed to radiate malignance.

"No, that's NegaMorph. He has a brain," said Chloe.

A white blob waddled past after Nega, before seeing them, "Oh...hey there."

"That's the moron," said Matt dully.

"NegaMorph?" asked Spider-Man with worry.

"Yes, that's Megan's uncle. Say hello, NegaMorph," said Chloe.

The creature tilted its head, allowing Spider-Man to see the six eyes under the hat's brim. Then a surprisingly large mouth opened up and roared, extending several monstrous tongues as it did so.

"NegaMorph, stop terrifying the newbie," snapped Chloe.

"I'm not terrified," said Spider-Man, though that sounded rather weak when he was literally clinging to the ceiling.

"You never let me have any fun," said NegaMorph with a grin.

"So... You're, er, Megan's uncle?" asked Spider-Man.

"Adoptive uncle," said NegaMorph, "Though she did mutate herself with my DNA."

"Yeah...and we're being very careful to keep him calm over her current situation," said Matt.

"You wouldn't have anything to do with that, would you?" asked NegaMorph, smiling less to show happiness and more to show how many teeth he had.

"Uh, no, not at all," said Spider-Man, "She was like that when I met her."

"Good for you," said NegaMorph, "I guess I won't have to take it out of your hide."

"NegaMorph?" said Chloe sweetly, NegaMorph turning to glare before being hammered over the head, Chloe using her punches to emphasise her words "NO...EATING...HEROES!"

"Ok, you all have some anger to work out, so I think I'll talk with you later," said Spider-Man, wall-crawling away from them.

Matt looked at Morph, "Morph, just spit up the killer cube...NOW!" Morph looked blank before coughing, hacking, and finally spitting up a Rubik's Cube. "The other cube?" said Matt. Morph's attention seemed to be drifting...and so was he. "Erm...Morph? You're floating," said Matt carefully, grabbing Morph.

"You wanna float too?" asked Morph.

"I do not...and neither do you. The laws of physics are there for a reason," snapped Matt.

"Like gravity?" asked Morph. Suddenly, everyone flew straight up and hit the ceiling. Or more accurately, they fell straight up.

"MORPH, YOU MORON!" snapped NegaMorph.

"At least the ceiling is solid," said Chloe. Just then, the ceiling she was standing on gave a small groan and buckled a little.

"MORPH, GRAVITY THE RIGHT WAY NOW!" snapped Matt. Then everyone fell back to the floor, except Morph. He flew off down the hallway. "Oh God, a moron with the powers of Betrayl," muttered Matt, before snapping, "GRAB THE IDIOT!"

* * *

When it comes to shopping, there are few cities which are better suited than New York City. If it can be found anywhere, it can be found here. But looking for magical items required considerable more effort than other things.

That said, the shops that covered that did have one bonus that only the truly stupid tried to rob them. As a result, the shopkeeper wasn't that surprised when a cat woman walked into his shop. "You supervillains know the rules. Make trouble and I curse you," he said in a calm tone.

"'Villain' is such a subjective word," said the cat woman, lowering her hood. She had brown fur, brilliant yellow eyes, and short black hair.

"Ok, anti-hero. You pay like anyone else. Now then, what can I get you?" said the shopkeeper calmly.

"I have you have something from a certain Temple of the Moon," said the cat woman.

"You'll need to narrow it down. Lots of moon temples," said the shopkeeper.

"Urgh...Hircine?" said the cat woman calmly.

The shopkeeper opening a grimoire. "Erm...nope, not on here," he said.

"Uh...let's see...what's the moon god for this realm?" muttered the cat woman to herself.

"There are various moon gods," said the shopkeeper, "There's Artemis, Selene, Metzli, Khonshu..."

"Khonshu? That one will do," said Bahfeliz, the shopkeeper raising an eyebrow.

"Makes sense I suppose," he muttered.

"Now, I'll also need an energy source of great power," said the cat woman.

"We don't carry anything like that. Not after the last time," said the shopkeeper calmly.

"Then where can I get one?" asked the cat woman.

"I don't even know what you wanna do. Depends on the spell," said the shopkeeper, pulling a small gem out. "This thing? Good for one spell," he said, tossing it over to the customer, "That thing's good for one-shot curses. It's just an example anyway so I'm gonna need it back."

"Example? Good idea," said the cat woman.

"Hey, I got more than enough hexes against any spell on Ear-" began the shopkeeper before a red blast knocked him down.

"I'm not from this world," said the cat woman. She grabbed the book from the prone shopkeeper, flipping through the pages before finding something. "Oh...oh this is perfect," she said evilly, "I just need to pick up a few more things. You wouldn't happen to know where this 'Sanctum Sanctorium' is, would you?"

"If I tell, will you call 911 before you go?" groaned the shopkeeper.

The cat woman thought it over before saying "Deal." The shopkeeper pointed to a set of maps. The cat woman looked over the maps for a while. "I should have studied maps more," she muttered to herself.

"33rd Street, you jerk," groaned the shopkeeper.

"Fine...now how do you use these phone things?" said the cat woman.

* * *

Morph had turned out to be slightly harder to catch than expected and, after a small incident where the Triskelion's vending machines all started dispensing coconut cake, had been removed to the coffee shop, under threat of a sock puppet.

Fortunately, Morph could be convinced to hold still with television. That is if he could find a channel he would watch.

Matt walked in to find he'd paused on the Bugle News network. "Hey, why are you watching that bigot?" asked Matt.

"I was expecting him to say something funny," said Morph, "But all I hear from this is 'Spider-Man's fault this' and 'Spider-Man's fault that'. Really, it's all yakkity-yakkity-yak."

Matt nodded before jumping back as there was a flash of light on the screen and a yak had replaced Jameson. "Erm...Morph?" he said shakily, pointing.

"Ooh, new show?" asked Morph.

"No, Morph. You just MUTATED A NEWS ANCHOR INTO A YAK!" snapped Matt.

"Really? Seems like an improvement," said Morph.

Matt looked at the screen, nodding a little before shaking his head. "That's not the point. Turn him back," he snapped.

"Ok, fine," said Morph.

There was another flash of light on the screen and JJJ was back, looking rather bewildered. "Ahem, while I'm certain Spider-Man was somehow responsible for that, I would rather we just forget about that little incident," said JJJ.

"Computer?" said Matt.

The AI said, "Already posted to Youtube as a permanent addition, and emailed worldwide, sir." Matt grinned evilly.

Just then, NegaMorph and Kala wheeled in a large transparent cube. "Ok, I think we've got something to contain Morph's cosmic powers," said Kala.

"Or at least contain Morph," said NegaMorph.

"I don't wanna get in there," said Morph defensively.

"Matt?" asked Kala.

"On it," said Matt before grabbing Morph with his plasma control. Morph looked at Matt before zooming off, Matt trying rather futility to hold still, only to be pulled along.

"This is gonna be a hoot," said NegaMorph, pulling out a video camera.

* * *

The cat woman was checking off her list as she walked. "Ok, that should just about be everything. All I need is a cosmic power source. But where I am supposed to find one that's easy to get?" she asked herself.

She paused as a white slug appeared in a flash of light, a human hanging onto it and screaming abuse. "Howdy do," the slug said cheerfully before vanishing again.

The cat woman blinked before gesturing. A wispy blue line appeared before her, leading in a particular direction. She watched as the line shot off towards a building before it stopped halfway and headed for the river, doing a right angle turn again before shooting skywards.

The cat woman stared in confusion. "It must be Sheogorath Day," she muttered to herself.

The beam shot down before into a street a few streets over and remained. "Ok..." she said, looking at the line and snapping "Are we sure?" before she muttered and headed off.

* * *

"Took...to moon..." said Matt, shaking with frost on him, Morph crammed into the cube, which NegaMorph had slapped a 'Do not open till Xmas...in 3300AD'.

"You sure this will hold him?" asked Chloe.

"Apparently this wasn't the first time the team stationed at this bunker had to deal with a cosmic energy source," said NegaMorph.

"Good...till the ship arrives and we can get that thing out of him. NegaMorph, how far away is the _Bladestorm_?" snapped Matt.

"How should I know?" asked NegaMorph.

Matt turned, the frost on him melting before he snapped, "YOU CAME WITHOUT THE SHIP?"

NegaMorph managing a 'Uh oh' before he popped.

"NegaMorph took one of the smaller ships to get here," said Morph, "It got shot down."

NegaMorph, who was reforming, managed a "DAMMIT MOR-" before Matt exploded him again.

"Well, that's annoying," said Chloe, sitting on the cube.

"Chloe, don't sit on that," said Matt.

"Don't worry," said NegaMorph, "It's designed to be indestructible from the outside and inside."

Morph said, "Your butt's gotten really big."

Matt wincing, "That's why."

Chloe slowly stood up and said, "Morph can't get out, right?"

"Well, yes," said NegaMorph.

"Good," said Chloe before she picked up the cube and shook it really hard.

She finally put it down, Morph saying cheerfully, "I feel like butter." splattered over the cube before the computer said "Sir...ma'am...you may want to see this."

* * *

The door to the coffee shop opened, the cat woman walking in, causing alot of the customers to look at her. Of course, since the people who own the place have had a waitress who's dressed up as an anthro dragoness (who wasn't here today), they didn't think much of the cat girl. If anything, they thought she may be a new employee.

She looked around before gravitating over to someone's drink, heavy on the cream. "Hey!" snapped the drink's owner, grabbing her arm.

"Oh please. Just try to stop me," said the cat woman.

The customer glared, before trying to take the drink, only for her to throw him into the wall. Needless to say this caused a panic. "Why do I keep coming back here?" asked one customer as he fled the coffee house.

As the last one ran out, two laser turrets folded down. "Cease your actions," said the computer.

"Just like the Dwemer ruins," said the cat woman. The turrets opened fire at that, the woman dodging them easily before pulling out a blade and slashing through the turrets. The turrets fell in half at that. "Their metal is even softer than I expected," she said.

"Intruder alert...locking down," said the computer's voice before someone said "You know...you're not helping our business."

The cat woman turned to see the human from earlier. "I'll be out of your hair soon enough," said the cat woman.

"Sorry, no pets," said the human, a blue fireball appearing in his hand before he threw it. The cat woman held up a hand, a ward appearing and blocking the attack. "Hey..." snapped the human, igniting a blade.

"Oh please, nobody can cut through-oh," sneered the cat woman, drawing her blade before the human cut the blade off her sword.

"You were saying something about soft metals?" asked the human smugly.

"Do you know who I am?" snapped the cat woman.

The human saying, "An alley cat who delved into mutagen?" only to be blasted back.

The human grabbed a coffee mug and threw it at the cat woman. She smacked the mug aside, but that gave the human the opening to charge in with his blade. But before he could strike, a purple glowing sword appeared in her hand and she blocked him. "Wait, that's a summoned sword," said the human before looking the cat woman straight in the eye, "You're a Khajiit."

"Top marks," sneered the Khajiit before kicking him back and throwing a dagger that pinned him by the sleeve.

"What's a Khajiit doing in this universe?" asked the human.

"You'll find out later, if you live long enough," said the Khajiit.

"Matt, what the hell is the al-" began a second female voice, the Khajiit turning to see a rather large royal werewolf, far larger than normal. "Oh you have got to be kidding," it said with an evil grin, cracking its knuckles.

The Khajiit's eyes narrowed. "You..." she said with a growl.

"You know her?" gibbered Matt.

"Uh...no," said the werewolf, "Have we met?"

"Only once, when you fumbled my father's plan," said the Khajiit.

The Khajiit paused at that, turning slowly to look at Matt. "Oh...shit...I just punched a prince's son," she muttered.

"Sorry, I'm not next in line for the throne," said Matt in a dazed voice.

The Khajiit turned to look at the werewolf. "You made me commit treason! I'LL KILL YOU!" before lunging.

The werewolf just grabbed the Khajiit out of the air by the scruff of her neck. "Settle down, kitty," said the werewolf, "Matt is about as royal as the loo."

"Heeeey..." moaned Matt, the Khajiit glaring before blowing dust in the wolf's face.

The werewolf sniffed and said, "Garlic? That only works on vampires. For me, it just stings my nose...a lot."

The Khajiit grinned as the wolf dropped her, scrabbling at her snout before heading for the door she'd come out of. "Ok...if I was a cosmic power source..." muttered the Khajiit, heading down some stairs and into a high tech corridor. "Ok...maybe not Dwemer," she muttered.

Just then, a nearby wall turned black as something start emerging from it. "What sort of daedra is this?" asked the Khajiit.

"I'm not a daedra!" snapped NegaMorph before blasting at her.

The Khajiit yowled in surprise, dodging around the blasts as NegaMorph snapped, "I am SICK of being called a demon! I'M A GENETIC EXPERIMENT!"

"An experiment made by a maddened alchemist, no doubt," said the Khajiit.

NegaMorph paused before snapping "CLOSE ENOUGH!" sending out shadow spikes to try and impale the cat.

"You have great fury," said the Khajiit, "But I bet you also have great fear." With that, she sent a greenish-yellow blast into NegaMorph's face.

The glow hit him before seemingly being absorbed. "Sorry...little too high level for that," he sneered.

"Rats," grumbled the Khajiit.

"Let me show you how I do it." sneered NegaMorph. With that, he opened his mouths wide, letting out a blood-chilling screech as many tongues lashed out.

The Khajiit actually laughed at that. "Oh please, that's just cute," she managed.

"Cute?" asked NegaMorph, baffled.

"I've hunted monsters from many realms of Oblivion," said the Khajiit, "You are merely a comic imitation."

"Oh?" said NegaMorph "And where did you hunt them?" he sneered.

"See for yourself," said the Khajiit before throwing another yellow-green spell.

This blast knocked NegaMorph off his feet, pinning him against the wall. "You already tried that. And it still didn't..." NegaMorph's voice trailed off as everything seemed to become a swirling vortex.

"The spell before was just so you would lower your guard," said the cat's voice from somewhere. "Now then," she said, her voice getting deeper and darker, "Lets see what scares you."

"This is all a mind trick," said NegaMorph, "Illusions are only strong if you believe in them." But he was not feeling well. Looking at his hand, he could see it becoming stiffer, like he was turning to glass.

"Oooooh...someone's afraid of being weak and brittle?" she sneered.

"This isn't real," said NegaMorph through gritted teeth.

"Oh...but it...IS!" sneered the Khajiit, smashing the glass hand with a blow. NegaMorph cried out in pain. For an illusion, it actually hurt. And he could feel the fragmenting going up his arm. "Aw...you're all going to pieces," sneered the Khajiit.

"This won't keep me trapped forever," snarled NegaMorph.

"It doesn't have to. I've already moved on," said the Khajiit's voice.

* * *

The Khajiit smirked as she followed the last of the spell line round a corner to see the slug in a clear cube. "Hello," said Morph in the cube.

"I was expecting more defenses," said the Khajiit.

"Chris and Kala went out for pizza," said Morph, "Kira's doing some kinda lab stuff at SHIELD. And Snowbell's gonna give you a hug."

"I'm sorry wh-?" said the Khajiit before a large sabretooth tiger tackled her and started pummeling her.

"Yay, catfight," said Morph happily.

Morph watched happily, clapping whenever the Khajiit tried to claw her way back into the room only for a paw to drag her back, before she finally ran in, covered in scratches and used a spell to seal the door, leaning against it. "That kid has issues," she said panting.

"Chloe says she's going through stuff because of rapid maturity. Whatever that means," said Morph.

"She's insane," snapped the Khajiit before snapping, "You're coming with me."

"Oh, you can't take me," said Morph.

"Oh yes I can" snarled the Khajiit, grabbing the cube. The cube immediately let out a surge of energy that threw her back. "Told ya," said Morph.

The Khajiit walked around the cube and said, "That energy didn't come from this box." She looked at the machine the cube was on top of. "I just have to remove the box from this machine," she said.

"Oh please, Matt made that. Unless you have clearance, you'd have to drag the entire thing," said Morph cheerfully.

"So be it," growled the Khajiit, her voice getting deeper.

Morph's eyes bulged as her shadow over him grew, along with the sounds of muscles stretching and bones popping. "Oh, wow," he said.

* * *

Matt and Chloe ran round the corner, blaster rifles at the ready. "I swear I'm gonna skin that kitty!" snapped Matt, the two turning the corner to see NegaMorph. NegaMorph seemed to be in pretty bad pain. He was also in several pieces. "What the hell?" said Matt in shock.

Chloe sniffed and said, "I don't smell any poisons. But I think I smell a little magic."

"I didn't know you can sniff magic," said Matt.

"Since I got that gamma dose, I can smell different energies," said Chloe.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Ok, let's snap him out of it. NEGAMOOOOORPH!" said Matt, picking up one of the ears and yelling into it.

NegaMorph yelped, seeming to snap out of the spell. "Ugh, that was one nasty illusion," said NegaMorph, "Wait, why am I in pieces?"

"Mind over matter," said Matt, "Sometimes you can make your body believe what your mind perceives."

NegaMorph flowed back together at that. "Ok, I'm gonna turn her into a fur coat," he snarled, a flash of light seen down the hall.

"Please tell me she didn't," said Chloe.

The two ran round the corner to see Snowbell trying to headbutt her way through the door. "SHE'S STEALING MORPH!" the sabertooth roared angrily.

"Under other circumstances, I'd let her and have him drive her nuts. But considering what Morph's carrying..." said Matt before blasting the door.

A second later, he was pulled in and slammed into the wall. "Wha-" started Matt before something heavy was slammed on him. Chloe ran in to be blinded by the flash of a spell, before seeing Matt on the ground, dazed. "I think she got away," he managed.

Chloe looked around, seeing a lack of Khajiit and a lack of Morph. "Oh, this is bad," she said.

"More than you know," said Matt with concern.

* * *

Quite naturally, losing something as important and dangerous as the Tesseract warranted a thorough chewing-out by Nick Fury. "YOU LOST THE TESSERACT?" snapped Fury over the phone, Matt holding it at arm's length.

"Well, to be specific, Morph was kidnapped. He just hasn't spat the Tesseract out yet," said Matt.

"I'm sending a team. You're gonna work with them to find the Tesseract _then_ I'll decide what to do with you," snapped Fury, hanging up.

"I hope it's a team we can work with," said Chloe.

"And ones that won't cause us a big headache," said NegaMorph, "My head's still pounding."

"We don't wait," said Matt, NegaMorph nodding, before pausing, his eye twitching before he looked a bit ill.

"You ok?" asked Chloe.

"You ever have a headache so bad it makes you sick to your stomach?" asked NegaMorph.

"Yeah...why?" asked Matt, before NegaMorph clutched his head.

"Argh...it feels like I'm gonna explode," he snapped.

"Explode as in-" started Matt before NegaMorph's chest bulged out.

"CHESTBUSTER!" snapped Matt, running for cover before NegaMorph managed "This didn't happen before I met you." and he indeed exploded, a shape covered in his goo crouched and groaning in the goop.

Chloe poked at it with her foot before saying sarcastically, "Congratulations, it's a girl."

"Shut...up..." groaned the shape in a familiar female tone.

"Oh come on," groaned Matt, "This is all I need right now."

The shape shook the goop off to reveal Taelina who shot forward, grabbing Matt. "WHERE IS SHE? WHERE'S MY SISTER?!"

"Haven't seen her," said Matt, "I think I would have recognized her."

"I traced her here as soon as Father told me some _idiot_ opened a rift. Color me surprised when it leads me to you," snarled Taelina.

"Er, that rift was a few hundred miles north of here," said Chloe, a little sheepishly.

"Silence! You have no idea how dangerous she is. _Father_ locked her away!" snapped Taelina before a webshot hit her snout.

"You know, when you steal something super-powerful and dangerous, you usually leave the scene of the crime," said Spider-Man as he walked over.

Taelina turned to glare, before her eyes glowed red and the webbing actually combusted. "I...AM...NOT...IN THE MOOD!" she howled.

"Spider-Man, I don't think she's someone you're equipped for," called Matt.

"I'd listen if I were you," snarled Taelina.

"Well, I didn't just come alone," said Spider-Man.

White Tiger walked in behind him. "Been wanting to test my new amulet," said White Tiger.

"Really, don't," began Chloe with worry, as Taelina looked at White Tiger and began laughing.

"Ok, no wonder Bahfeliz came here. If you had anyone knew her, you'd have sent an army for her," she said.

"Am I missing something?" asked White Tiger.

"Well, apparently there's another werewolf that's escaped from another dimension," said Matt.

"She's not a werewolf," said Taelina darkly.

"But you said she was your sister," said Matt.

"Half-sister," said Taelina, "My mother wasn't a flea-bitten wildcat."

"Enough! How dangerous is she?" snapped Matt, before the lights turned red.

"Code 12 emergency...commencing Bunker protocol," the computer said.

"That's bad, right?" asked Spider-Man.

"More than you know." said Taelina

* * *

Something has been stirring tonight. Lady NegaMorph could something has been building up and getting ready to be released. As such, she was busy setting up wards.

Falcore walked in at that. "My Lady, your followers are getting twitchy. Is there a reason the doors and windows are sealed?" he asked, yawning.

"It's a bad moon out tonight," said Lady Nega, "Everyone needs to stay inside."

Falcore raised an eyebrow. "It's a doomsday villain again, isn't it? I remember Lesog telling me how you locked you and him in your flat when Doctor Doom rewrote history for several days," he said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"I'm not sure if I would say 'doomsday', but it's going to be really inconvenient if we got caught up in it," said Lady Nega.

"Fine...go fish tournament?" said Falcore, adding, "I get the feeling we're not gonna be busy today."

"I suppose so. Say, Manticora's not still in heat, is she?" asked Lady Nega.

"I wouldn't know and I'm not asking," said Falcore flatly.

"I mean, if she were, she'd be the least likely to just sit around for a whole night," said Lady Nega.

There was a yell of "LEMME OUT OF THIS DAMN PLACE!" before there was a crash, the two walking and peering through a doorway to see a wall repairing itself.

"Urgh...should I go get her?" asked Falcore.

"I wouldn't bother," said Lady Nega, "You'll just end up caught in the madness."

"Urgh..." muttered Falcore.

"Chances are, some heroes will stop whatever's happening and everything will go back to normal," said Lady Nega.

Falcore paused before he said, "We could help. Why not?"

"Not our problem," said Lady Nega.

"But you said it would rewrite reality," said Falcore.

"It won't destroy the world," said Lady Nega, "Unless it's that scale of a threat, I'm not gonna bother. Just wait it out."

"Aren't we in this reality?" pointed out Falcore.

"That's why I'm putting up wards," said Lady Nega.

"And if they break?" pointed out Falcore.

Lady Nega glared. "I don't...care. We aren't heroes. We're villains for God's sake. Now get out."

Falcore just glared and walked away. She was becoming less tolerable company by the day.

* * *

The computers 'bunker protocol' was quite effective, practical looking blastdoors having sealed the doors out into the street as well as the windows...and the walls. There was also someone there already. "Ok, Spidey, which unauthorized person did you bring with you?" asked Matt with annoyance.

A young looking teenage girl with a squirrel tail was standing among the tables. "You're almost out of hazelnut blend," she said cheerfully.

"Who...is...that?" asked Matt flatly.

The girl spun around, swishing her tail, before saying, "Meet the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and her unstoppable squirrel army."

Matt paused. "What squirrels?" he asked, before pausing and hitting the light switch, to show there was alot of squirrels...everywhere. "Oh God, it's Alfred Hitchcock," he muttered in a small voice.

"You've got to be joking," said NegaMorph flatly.

"On the bright side, these will make a good pre-battle snack," said Taelina, grabbing one squirrel.

Matt winced as every squirrel dogpiled her. "Oh God, organic spiderbots," he whimpered, Chloe on reflex grabbing her blaster.

"These wouldn't happen to be genetically-enhanced squirrels, would they?" asked NegaMorph.

"I don't care. Computer, open the damn shutters," snapped Matt, as Taelina started fighting back, and still losing.

"Access denied. Class 18 reality event in progress...lockdown will not rescind," replied the computer.

"Say what now?" asked Spider-Man, "Is this coffee house travelling to another dimension?"

There was a boom at that, the room shaking for a second. "Shockwave has passed...lowering event to class 4...hazmat recommended," said the computer.

"What just happened out there?" asked White Tiger.

"And what happened to Chris and Kala?" asked Chloe with concern.

"Captain Anderson and Lt Triseptus are not on the premises," said the computer

"I know that!" snapped Chloe, "Where are they now?"

"Pinpointing: Targets located...severe DNA alteration detected. Background reality charge now at safe levels. Rescinding Bunker protocol," said the computer, shutters beginning to rise.

"Oh great, what kind of nightmare world have we landed in?" asked Matt, looking out the window.

"How bad is it?" asked Chloe.

Matt said, "Absolutely nothing. I think the computer needs debugging." in a dull voice, the view outside apparently unchanged.

"Get off of me!" yelled Taelina, throwing a squirrel at the door.

"Tippy Toe!" cried Squirrel Girl.

Matt yelped, opening the door and yelping again at the air rippled when the squirrel shot through the doorway, purple lightning crackling round the squirrel before a confused kitten landed in the street.

"Ok, on one hand, cute. On the other hand, what the heck just happened?" asked Spider-Man.

"Unknown rewrite of reality...Unable to contact Search and rescue. Recommend use of reality field generators and planetary evacuation. Reality field classed as hostile," said the computer.

Chloe ran over to a first aid kit, opening the cover then opening the back to show a row of bracelets. "Put em on right now!" she yelped in terror.

"But Tippy Toe," protested Squirrel Girl.

"Uh, he seems to be alright," said White Tiger. The kitten outside was calmly washing his face.

"There's not enough," said Chloe in panic, tossing three over to the heroes.

"Fortunately, there's one way to avoid being transformed," said Taelina, "I know my sister well enough. Her spell is meant to make everyone cats. But she can't change dogs. She's not strong enough for that."

"Wait...your nutcase sister just altered an entire dimension's reality?" said Matt in a 'shortening fuse' tone of voice, his eye twitching.

"Not the entire dimension. Just this planet and only the side that the moon is over," said Taelina, pointing out the window. Everyone looked to see a full moon in the sky, though it was glowing yellow and had a catlike pupil on it.

"Ok...that's gonna be in my top 7 of weirdness," said Spider-Man.

"Could be worse. Could be a talking Dorito," muttered NegaMorph.

"Hmm...need to check something. I got the perfect test," said Matt, picking up NegaMorph in his plasma control and throwing him at the doorway.

Nega hit the street and got up unsteadily. "I think I'm o-" he began before he was fried by the same electricity and fired back into the cafe, spatting against the far wall. "I...I hate you, Lynch," he rasped, smoking before coughing up a hairball which caught fire from the static.

"What the heck did that prove?" asked Squirrel Girl.

"That NegaMorph's flammable," said Matt with an evil cackle.

"Uh-huh, well unless you want to wear NegaMorph like a suit, it looks you're short one reality field generator," said Chloe.

"I got one somewhere," said Matt with concern, opening his wrist comp and throwing out various things. "DAMMIT, I know I had one!" he snapped.

"There is another way, you know," said Taelina.

Matt paused, but Chloe got there first, slamming Taelina against the wall, her eyes glowing green. "I know what you're thinking and the answer is NO!" she snarled.

"We cannot afford to be compromised," said Taelina, "We already lost one to the curse."

"Oh please, one kitten does not a Darkrift assault team make," said NegaMorph with a laugh before turning to see the kitten in front of him before it facehuggered him.

"This night isn't so bad so far," Matt commented.

"Pizza's here." called a familiar voice, Chris walking into view, the others noticing he seemed fine. "Hey, I think something's a little off with the city," he said, sounding a little drunk.

"Like what? Scratching posts on every corner?" asked Spider-Man.

Just then, Kala walked in and asked, "Who wants anchovies?" The others stared at her. "What? Something on my face?" asked Kala, apparently oblivious of her whiskers, cat ears, and tail.

"You got a little...something," said Matt slowly, Kala twitching before claws sprouted from her hands.

"So, you just put these on, right?" asked Spider-Man, putting the bracelet on his hand. The bracelet lit up, the air around Spider-Man rippling for a second.

"Hey...why you putting those on?" said Chris.

Kala, now looking even more catlike, shrugged, "I dunno."

Chris turning to nod at her, turning back, before pausing. "Annnd there it is," said Chloe.

"So, I'm gonna eat now, that's ok?" asked Kala, opening the pizza box, revealing a pizza that was pretty thick with anchovies.

"So, that idea you had, Taelina." said Matt in a desperately cheerful voice.

"As I said, she cannot change canines, particularly werewolves," said Taelina, "Father made sure of that."

"Oh no," said Matt, saying, "Chloe, get the sedatives for Kala. We both remember what she said she'd do to Taelina if she tried what she's planning."

"Er, Kala..." started Chloe.

Kala hissed at Chloe and snapped, "My fishies!"

"Kala's not home," said Chloe.

Taelina nodded before grabbing Matt by the throat. "Now, I'm afraid this might sting a little. I knocked you out the first time," she said cheerfully, her eyes glowing.

"I want a second opinion," said Matt.

"Tough," said Taelina before putting her hand on his chest.

A silvery light shone where Taelina's hand touched Matt's chest. It seemed really uncomfortable for Matt, particularly when his eyes started glowing as well. Matt yelped as he began to change, silvery fur sprouting as Taelina took a step back in surprise. There were a few unpleasant cracks as Matt's legs elongated, his shoes torn apart by his lupine paws.

"That's...not right," said Taelina with small concern.

"How is any of this supposed to be right?" asked White Tiger dryly.

"He used to have black fur," snapped Taelina as Matt staggered back before looking around with a growl, and fixing his gaze on Taelina.

"What did you do with his tail?" asked Chloe.

"What tail?" asked Squirrel Girl.

"Exactly," said Chloe.

Taelina stepped forward at that. "Bow before the daughter of-" she began only for everyone to jump as Matt punched her.

"Not that I'm opposed, but was that warranted right now?" asked NegaMorph.

Matt turned to glare at them at that, before rather pointedly, flicking his claws out.

"Ok, time out, mister," said Chloe. Matt's eyes narrowed at that. Chloe loomed over him, her eyes glowing green. "I said time out," she growled.

Matt's response was to lunge at her like he was about to maul her, only to duck under the slash and kick her off her feet.

"Ok, I don't think we have time for this," said Spider-Man before webbing Matt's feet to the floor.

Matt turned at that, Taelina drawing her blade. "This shouldn't be happening. I've used this spell a million times," she snapped.

"Ever been in a different reality before?" asked NegaMorph.

"A few times," said Spider-Man.

"Wasn't talking to you," said NegaMorph.

"I've been following you fools, haven't I?" said Taelina darkly, before charging Matt, who grabbed her sword wrist, pulling her forward so they were nose to nose, Matt growling angrily.

"Ok, enough," said Chloe before grabbing Matt and Taelina's heads and banging them together.

"Hey! Why in Oblivion did you do that?" snapped Taelina.

Chloe smirked, "Hardest thing I could find." as Matt staggered against a wall, muttering as he gripped his head before his eyes seemed to refocus. "Matt, you ok?" asked Chloe.

"Having a bad flashback," said Matt, looking at his hand with something approaching recognition.

"Yeah, I know you don't like being a werewolf again, but it's necessary this time," said Chloe.

"Not that," muttered Matt. Taelina glared and advanced again, only to yelp as Matt's hand shot up and grabbed her by the neck. "You are staying out of my head...at all times. If I even suspect you're messing with my head, I'll snap your neck and tell Fenris Doctor Doom vaporised you," he said in a low slightly deeper voice. "Also, this thing is only temporary. As soon as your crazy sister is stopped and everyone is back to normal, so am I."

"Of...course...I made sure...that was...included." gagged Taelina before Matt let go.

"I really hope so." before he looked at the shocked group and barked "WHAT?!"

"Er, you sure you're up for this right now?" asked Spider-Man, "We take a pizza break, if you don't mind anchovies."

"I'm...fine," said Matt in a dark voice, Taelina flinching away.

"Well, let's see if it was actually worth it," said NegaMorph walking over and picking up Matt.

Spider-Man noticed Matt's eye start to twitch before saying, "NegaMorph, I don;t think that's a good idea." before he heard a purring and turned to see Kala, now a striped red furred anthro cat purring happily as Squirrel Girl scratched her behind the ear.

Matt meanwhile had turned to glare, NegaMorph's eyes picking out the telltale signs, at least to him, of small cybernetics added by nanites. Whatever this was it was NSC...or at least Nullspace. Future thoughts were removed when Matt squished his head.

Then NegaMorph was thrown out of the coffee house again, this time flying across the street and landing among garbage cans, which caused many cats to yowl.

"Ok...NSC made werewolves...with bad tempers." muttered NegaMorph before glaring at the cats, "The hell are you all looking at?"

"Hey, I was gonna eat that," said an annoyed voice.

"Find another place to scrounge...you...alley cat..." said NegaMorph, turning to see what was clearly a homeless man, but now he was an anthro cat. "Hmm...hey man...you notice anything a little...off?" said Nega, more surprised the guy hadn't freaked out at him, doing a quick check of himself and sighing with relief to see he was still a normal eldritch blob.

"Yeah, there ain't as much food in these cans as there ought to be," said the hobo cat. "Nothing...else? Sudden sprouting of fur? Addiction to catnip and cream, that sort of thing?" said Nega carefully.

"The rats are missin'" said the hobo cat, "Too bad. I could really use somethin' to eat."

"Nothing else? No humans around?" said Nega carefully.

"Who?" asked the hobo cat.

"Thought so. You never saw me," said Nega.

The hobo said "And if I-" before Nega did the tentacle mouth trick at him. "Yes, sir," squeaked the hobo, in a shaking voice.

NegaMorph walked back to the coffee house and said, "I'm not sure if anyone really notices anything is wrong." He paused when he saw Kala playfully batting a squirrel around. "Ok, this is getting a little too cutesy," said NegaMorph.

He walked back in. "Guys, good news I don't think anyones been vaporized," he said, before noticing Matt sat at one of the tables, eyes closed and apparently ignoring him. "Do we have time for meditation?" asked NegaMorph. Matt didn't respond, Nega pausing before he snapped "MATT!"

Matt's eyes shot open, "I'm trying to control my urges to rip you apart."

"Well, we can't sit around here while everything's going catty outside," said NegaMorph.

"Because every instinct is listing all the things you did as a general and it's making me pissed," finished Matt, before closing his eyes.

Chloe pulled Nega back. "Leave it...what did you find out?" she said.

"The people out there are cats, they don't seem to think they were anything else," said NegaMorph.

"Did they say anything about what might have caused it?" asked Chloe.

"Not that I heard," said NegaMorph. "I wonder how much TV has changed," said Squirrel Girl before turning on the coffee house's TV.

The screen came to life, showing the opening titles for the Bugle News network. "Oh not this moron," muttered Matt.

JJJ was still pretty recognizable, even if he was clearly a lion. His moustache was the most identifiable marker. "This just in, a handful of people claim that something is wrong in Mew York City," said JJJ.

A second later, a table smashed the TV. "That pun is a crime against nature," snarled Matt.

"Hey, I was watching that," said Squirrel Girl.

Matt pulled out his phone, flipping through lines. "Good grief. Look, it's like history's been rewritten," he said, showing a Wikipedia page for America

"Kittucky? Maine Coon? Nyavada?" asked Spider-Man, "Ugh, taking over the world, I get. But putting puns on everything? That's pure evil."

"No sign of who did it. Just 'glorious leader' as their leader," said Matt.

"This...is not like Bahfeliz at all," said Taelina, sounding disturbed, "She wouldn't...toy with a world. She ought to be leading her pride out to conquer what she hasn't already got a hold of."

"Did you say-" started Chloe.

Everyone's phones beeped at that, Matt looking at his wristcomp feed. "Giant Goldfish monster...some things never change," he sighed.

"And there's also an army of... windup mice?" asked White Tiger in confusion.

Matt, Chloe, and NegaMorph exchanged one look and said together, "Morph."

Matt sighed, readying his com. "Morph...pick up," he snapped.

"Hey guys," said Morph's voice, "You still at the coffee house? They're getting low on cream here."

"Morph...I shall say this...only once. Where are you?" said Matt with impressive self-control, his free hand digging into the wall.

"Uh...lots of books," said Morph, "I know I'm in a basement. Oh, and the door we went in had these big scary statues on the sides."

"That sounds like Doctor Strange's place," said Spider-man.

Matt said into the comm, "Morph, this is your order: I want you to annoy your captor as much as possible."

"Can do," said Morph. There was a pause before he said, "You can't hear my salute, can you?"

"Just assuming you are," sighed Matt, adding, "And stop imagining giant killer goldfish."

"But there are so many kitties to feed," said Morph.

"MORPH!" snapped Matt.

"Ok, fine," said Morph.

There was another beep, declaring that the goldfish had vanished...and was being declared a tragedy. "I hate everything," muttered Matt, before Spider-man said "We know where he is."

"Morph's never been a great direction-giver," said Chloe with hesitation.

"Oh please, it's not like he's in the library," said Matt.

* * *

The city has not been reshaped as Bahfeliz had expected. Somehow, the blob's weirdness had twisted her vision of her new kingdom. If she didn't know better, she would have thought this was Sheogorath's work. However, there were at least a few things that were working. For one thing, she can watch from the eyes of her new subjects.

She smirked as she watched Kala's point of view,, the view a little foggy but clearing up as the spell took stronger hold. One of the problems was that she couldn't control her subjects' attention, so she'll just have to hope Kala will be looking in the right direction.

"Dammit," she snapped as he view went to a mirror, showing Kala's face as her eyes slowly shifted to feline form. "Huh, your friends are coming for you," she called over to Morph conversationally.

"Yay, I hope they're bringing chips," said Morph.

"Urgh, Princes give me strength. You do realise you're my prisoner, right?" she sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"Aren't we all prisoners?" asked Morph, "You're a prisoner of your daddy issues, right?"

Bahfeliz's eye twitched with an audible snap before she snapped, "I DO NOT HAVE DADDY ISSUES!"

"You wanna talk about your mom then?" asked Morph.

Bahfeliz paused before hanging her head. "No...no thank you," she said quietly.

"I don't have parent issues...because I don't have parents," said Morph, "I was made in a lab. I know what you need, a cream donut."

Bahfeliz absently took a plate with said donut from a white slug arm and taking a bite, before going bug-eyed and spitting it out, spinning...to see Morph in the cube still as if nothing had happened.

She looked at the donut suspiciously, as if it had been laced with a hallucinogenic poison... On the other hand, it was one of the sweetest things she ever tasted. And she normally didn't like sweets.

"Well, are you gonna eat it? You know how hard it was to get that?" said Morph.

Bahfeliz shrugged and took another bite. It didn't seem like poison, though she did feel more tingly and energetic...

"I hope you like sugar. The ingredients said to use four," said Morph.

Bahfeliz, getting a buzzing in her ears, turned to see several empty 1kg sugar bags. "Ooooooh...yoooou...jerrrrrrk..." she managed, her voice buzzing before everything went black.

* * *

Mew York City didn't look that much different from New York City, if you didn't notice the cat people or how some of the architecture has been changed to something feline favorable.

"We're lucky it's late," said Matt, sniffing the air.

"Yeah, though we might run into some cat burglars," said Squirrel Girl.

Matt paused. "And that your last pun. No more puns...please," said Matt with a twitch.

"We're in a cat world. They're kinda inevitable," said Spider-Man.

"Everyone gets one more," snapped Matt, before looking at Kala with concern, who was blinking rapidly.

"At least she's not angry about you being a werewolf again," said Chloe.

"Yeah, but she doesn't seem to be thinking about me at all," said Matt.

Chloe sighed and said, "Chris isn't much better."

The two looked at Chris, who had a distant look. He'd shifted to his own wolf form but well...it didn't seem like he was all there. "Oh, his brain's cooked," Matt said.

Chloe nodded. "You gonna explain how you got this? It's not the firm from last time...and NegaMorph told me he saw cybernetics your nanites added."

"Maybe I'm reacting to a different reality field," said Matt, "I mean, you're not the same werewolf as before either."

"Bull," said Chloe after a few seconds, slapping the back of his head before saying "And if you were normal that would have knocked your silly head off. That's NSC work," she snapped.

"You were trying to knock my head off?!" snapped Matt.

"Don't change the subject," snapped Chloe.

Matt paused, before saying, "Was the first year you vanished. I had to hook up with some...interesting people and I got exposed to a weapon program that Executive Genetics was making for the quarantine force. It's supposed to be dormant permanently," he said slowly.

Chloe took a step back in shock. "I...I had no idea," said Chloe.

"I know. I kept it buried for a reason," said Matt, "And that's not even the worst thing that happened. Though it's pretty high up."

"How bad?" asked Chloe.

Matt sighed. "Pretty bad. Let's just find morph," he said, before one of the jumbotrons came to life.

The others looked as it flickered before an image of Bahfeliz's face appeared. "Hear me, my feline friends. Your queen speaks," said Bahfeliz.

"Oh, I know I'm not going to enjoy this," groaned Taelina.

"It seems that two canines and their minions are loose in our fair city," said Bahfeliz,before she winced as a crash was heard behind her.

"Two canines? She had better be miscounting," said Taelina, "I am not a minion."

Headshots of Matt and Taelina appeared at that, Chloe snapping "WHAT?" as the cat woman continued, "I offer the highest of treasures to any who bring me their heads."

"Probably a lifetime supply of tuna cans," said NegaMorph dryly.

"It is not a lifetime supply of tuna," snapped Bahfeliz at that.

"Now that's uncanny," said Squirrel Girl.

The sound of sirens were heard at that. "Yeah, let's discuss it while we run," said Matt, as a police car skidded around the corner as several groups poured into the street.

"This is not the first time a loudmouth on a big screen has caused a mob of angry New Yorkers to come after me," said Spider-Man.

"I can believe that," said Matt.

"Run!" yelled Chloe as the first mobs got closer, Matt turning to leave only for Kala to tackle him.

"Erm, honey, not the time," he snapped, struggling.

"The queen wants you," hissed Kala.

"Honey, I like having my head," said Matt, trying to get her off without hurting her only to get scratched, his eyes going to pinpricks and him to punch Kala flying. "I'll apologize later!" called Matt before he started running again.

"Where the hell is this doctor?" yelled Taelina, sending a blast of icy wind at several cat people, blowing them off their feet.

"He's in Greenwich," called Spider-Man, "We shouldn't be that far as the spider swings."

Matt snapped, "Ok...I'll use the wings I don't have."

Chloe muttered to herself, "I really hate to do this..." before saying loudly, "Chris, get the cats!"

Chris perked up before running at their pursuers barking. Feline instinct apparently overruled promises of reward as the cat people in front screech before running away, tripping up the cats behind them.

"Good dog," called Matt, the group running for it.

"Ok, this should be it," said Spider-Man, "It tends to look different on the outside."

"I can smell them. They're getting close." said Taelina darkly, Matt looking around

"There it is!" called White Tiger, pointing.

Matt looked around, "Where?"

Taelina pointing "I see it."

To the less magical of them, it seemed like a rundown, dilapidated house. Those of them with more magic (plus Spider-Man as he had been there most often) they could see the fancy house with the distinctive large window on the roof and the gargoyles perching on either side of the stoop.

"Just point out the damn house!" snapped Matt.

"Here," said Taelina, running to the house. The two gargoyles came to life, revealing their presence to the others, knocking her back.

"I think you need to ask permission first," said Spider-Man.

"Dammit, this is an emergency," snapped Taelina.

"Hey, Doc, we've got a real problem going out here, so if you aren't too busy, please open the door!" called Spider-Man.

"I don't think that'll work..." began Matt. Just then, the door opened and what was hopefully a red carpet reached out, grabbed them all, and dragged them into the house before the door slammed.

Taelina was first up, looking around carefully. "Urgh...a mage's home. I hate mages," she muttered.

"I'm sorry for the abrupt entrance," said a voice, "As you can see, I am very busy right now." They looked up to see a man in a blue costume with a dramatically-flapping red cape, its clasp shaped like a closed eye.

"Doctor Strange, I presume," said Matt.

Strange sighed and said, "If I had a dollar for every time someone's said that..."

Taelina strode forward confidently. "You are this realm's archmage?" she said calmly.

"I am Sorcerer Supreme of this Earth," said Doctor Strange.

"I am Taelina of the Wild Realm, here to pursue my sister," said Taelina, surprising the Lynches by falling to one knee and bowing her head.

"I notice a slight resemblance," said Strange.

"Bahfeliz is only my half sister," said Taelina in a warning tone.

"I'm guessing her mother was more ambitious than yours," said Chloe.

"One of the offworlders your people dumped on Nirn," said Taelina nastily.

"Well, that would have certainly added more variety," said Matt, "Anyways, since the good doctor's here, I'm assuming that means that Bahfeliz is not using his basement."

"No...whatever magic she is using is taking all my efforts to protect the outside world from," said Strange.

"It won't hold her for long," said Taelina, "She using the moon itself as her focus. She'll use it spread her spell wherever moonlight touches."

"Which is precisely why she must pay for her misuse of the lunar satellite's power," said a deep voice.

The group turned to see a figure in white robes and armor. "Who the hell is that?" asked Matt.

"I am Moon Knight, agent of the lunar orb, seeker of justice against those who would do dark deeds beneath her light," said the figure.

"Uh, yeah, he takes orders from the moon itself," said Spider-Man flatly.

Matt and Chloe blinked, Chloe asking, "So...he's nuts?"

"I'm 90% sure," said Spider-Man.

"Oh, a lunamancer," said Taelina, apparently not listening to them, "I've never met one before."

"Yeah, he's a loony maniac," said NegaMorph.

"I said lunamancer," said Taelina, "You know what a geomancer is, right?"

"Vaguely." said Matt.

Taelina said, "Lunarmancers are just another sort of mage back-"

"Shh...I'm trying to listen," said Moon Knight, "It's hard to hear the moon's true voice through this corruptive cat magic."

"That said, it can be hard to distinguish those who truly speak to the land or moon from those who are just hearing voices in their head," said Taelina.

"He will be of help if the moon is the source of this spell," said Strange.

"Won't he just go catman on us?" asked White Tiger.

"I am the true Avatar of the Moon," said Moon Knight, "The tainted moonlight cannot harm me."

"We could throw him outside and see if he's right," suggested Matt.

"This is not a good time to be picky about allies," said Dr. Strange, "Many of New York's heroes have fallen under this spell. Only some nebulous distortion causes them to be too indifferent to heed Bahfeliz's call."

"Oh god, a cat Hulk," said Matt in terror.

"Thankfully, we think we know why Bahfeliz is having trouble motivating her kitties," said NegaMorph.

"Cause they're cats. Cats tend to have a view of the world that can't be repeated in polite company," said Chloe.

"Well, that too, though I think having to rely on Morph as a power source is giving her more complications than she anticipated," said NegaMorph.

"She's using Morph as a template?" said Matt.

"He's got the Tesseract in his stomach, Fido," said NegaMorph in annoyance.

Matt's eyes narrowed, before Strange said thoughtfully, "That would explain how such a complex spell is getting its power."

"Well, we know she's got him in New York, in a basement filled with books and two statues outside the front door..." said Spider-Man thoughtfully.

"The library!" said White Tiger, snapping her fingers.

"Wait, what? I was joking about that," said Matt.

"Well, she's not here," said Spider-Man, "I would have thought she'd choose this place."

"She would not have found this place," said Strange, confidently.

"So how far is the library from here?" asked Chloe.

"Way too far," said Spider-Man, "I'm not sure we'll be able to get there without being mobbed."

"I believe I can cast a spell to get you most of the way there," said Strange.

"That will be convenient," said Spider-Man, "You sure can you manage all 7 of us?"

"It will be more than 7," said Doctor Strange, "You need to bring all the help you can get."

"Wait, we're talking Moon Man over there?" said Matt, pointing at Moon Knight.

"And one other," said Doctor Strange.

At that, Man-Wolf walked out. "Yeah, Doc summoned me here when things started getting weird," he said, "It sounds like you need help."

Taelina paused, her eyes going wide and for some reason little birds fly out of the light behind Man-Wolf. "Hey!" snapped Chloe, tugging on Taelina's tail.

"What?" asked Taelina defensively.

"Aren't you mates with Fenris?" asked Chloe accusingly.

"An alpha can take as many mates as they want," said Taelina, "You ought to try it sometime." Taelina shot up to Man-Wolf at that. "Greetings, fellow wolf," she said happily.

Man-Wolf stepped back at that, going, "Er..."

"My name's Taelina, heir to the realm of the Wild Hunt," Taelina said goofily, Matt staring before slowly beginning to take photos.

"I can see why you dumped her," said NegaMorph.

"I had to break her brainwashing," snapped Matt as Man-Wolf tried to get Taelina to let go of his arm with mixed results.

"Well, I'm sure she won't want photographic evidence of this getting back to Fenris," said Chloe.

"I know...that's why it's called blackmail," said Matt.

NegaMorph paused before he said, "I am so proud of you..."

"It's nice seeing you again, John," said Spider-Man, "So how's that werewolf you've taken under your wing?"

"She is doing well...and she's somewhere away from this mess. Not exactly the trial by fire I wish for her," said Man-Wolf.

"She? There's another?" asked Taelina with a growl.

"Ok, time to rein it, wild dog," said Chloe before grabbing Taelina by the scruff.

A scratching was heard at that, coming from the door. "It seems time is short," said Strange.

"Urgh...I hate teleports. I always get burnt," muttered Matt before saying, "Just do it."

"Now keep in mind, I can't place right outside the library," said Doctor Strange, "There are too many of you and my resources are stretched. But you should be able to get to the library without too much trouble."

"It's a library. How dangerous can that be?" snapped Matt before pausing, as thunder was heard. "Urgh," he muttered, realising he;d just tempted fate.

"Good luck. The world is counting on you," said Doctor Strange before making arcane gestures. A magic circle appeared around the group before the floor seemed to drop out on them.

* * *

The group appeared in the middle of the road, Matt gibbering and smoking gently, the only one. "That's not even fair," he gibbered.

"Ok, I think we know where we are...or at least I'll be certain when my head stops spinning," said Spider-Man, "It shouldn't be more than two blocks from the library."

"Ok… I say we use the alleys, less chance of being spotted," said Chloe, sniffing the air.

"We don't have time for stealth," said Taelina, "We need to get to this library as fast as possible."

"Next time we won't have a hidden building to duck in," snapped Matt.

"I know Bahfeliz. She wouldn't have her main base unguarded," said Taelina, "We need to strike hard and fast."

"And we need to get to that base without attracting every person in the city," snarled Matt.

"And arguing here is just going to make that happen faster," said White Tiger.

"Fine..." snarled Taelina darkly, before giving Matt a mocking bow. "Lead the way, my alpha," she sneered.

"That's more like it," said Matt.

'_Tailless twit,'_ thought Taelina.

'_Stuck-up brat,'_ thought Matt at the same time.

However, as they made their way, they could feel the spell's weight increasing on them, even if they were still unaffected. White Tiger was starting to get dizzy from the pressure. Her amulet had been flashing in protest.

The reality bracelet on Spider-Man's wrist was also sparking every now and then and beeping with warning. "Yeah...we're getting closer," muttered Chloe, before hers and Matt's ears pricked, hearing what sounded like an animated argument up ahead.

"We have to heed the call? Can't you hear it? The call is everywhere," said a voice. "That doesn't mean I want to answer it," snapped an identical voice.

"Erm...guys?" said Matt carefully, drawing his blaster, the others hearing as the voice snapped "YOU DARE DISREGARD OUR MISTRESS?"

"I think I know that voice," said Chloe.

The group headed forward and peered to see Manticora yelling at a puddle, one of her eyes glowing blue while the other was her usual color.

"Well, that's unsettling," said Chloe.

"I suppose even your alternate is prone to split-personality syndrome," said NegaMorph.

Manticora turned to look at them at that. "You...YOU LOT...what did you _do_?" she snapped.

"He did it," said NegaMorph, pointing at the empty space besides him.

Manticors twitched before saying in a mad voice, "I KNEW IT!" With that, she lunged straight at the empty space.

NegaMorph blinked and said, "I didn't think she was that crazy."

"Manticores are part cat..." said Chloe pointedly, the group looking at Manticora who seemed to focus.

"Heeey," she snapped.

"And let's not forget even a half-crazy manticore is very dangerous," said Matt.

"I AM NOT CRAZY, Yes we are SHUT UP!" snapped Manticora.

"How about I just web her to the wall and we can move on?" asked Spider-Man before putting deed to word.

Chloe walked up to Manticora at that, looking close at her local self. "Megan's gone too far," she said finally.

"I don't think Megan's to blame for her current state," said Matt, "At least, not completely. 50 percent of that is Bahfeliz's fault."

Manticora twitched before managing to get an arm free. "I forgot how strong you get when you're mad," said Matt.

Chloe sighed before grabbing Manticora and bashing her against the wall before grinning. "Hey, Manticora. You wanna get back at who did this, right?" she asked. Manticora growled and tried to stab Chloe with her tail. But Chloe caught it and said, "Ah, ah, ah, none of that. Anyways, my irradiated blood would probably burn away your venom before it could anything."

"Let...me...GO!" roared Manticora.

"Not just yet," said Chloe, "As I was saying, don't you want to get payback?"

Manticora snapped, "OF COURSE I DO!"

"Then I suggest you direct that aggression towards the right person," said Chloe.

"You think I'd work with YOU?" laughed Manticora.

"If you listen, there's a logical reason for you to work with us," said Spider-Man.

"Logic and reason has no meaning to her," said Moon Knight, "Even those who are not blessed by the moon's all-seeing eye can see that she is an irrational beast."

"The lunatic has a point there," said Taelina.

Chloe turned to glare. "If I had my brain fighting myself, I wouldn't trust someone claiming to be me either," she snarled.

"Fortunately for me, there is only one Taelina anywhere," said Taelina.

"Which I am exceedingly grateful for," said Matt.

"When Lady NegaMorph finds out, you're all dead!" snapped Manticora before Chloe knocked her out.

"You don't think Megan's teamed up with Bahfeliz, have you?" asked Chloe.

"If Megan were involved, she wouldn't be hiding it," said NegaMorph.

"The library's the next street over," said Man-Wolf, looking at Manticora for a second.

"Then let's move," said White Tiger, "She caused enough of a ruckus to attract more cats to our position."

* * *

The library quickly came into view, and happily, to Matt's relief, there was no mob. "Ok, we go in, kick seven shades of hairball out of Bahfeliz till she reverses this then we have Taelina drag her home," he said quickly. The lion statues were making him nervous for some reason.

"Er, there's a little problem with that plan," said Taelina.

"Which is?" asked Matt.

"I can't take her back home," said Taelina.

"What?" said Chloe darkly.

"My father kicked me out, remember? I have to be with you until I can learn 'humility'," said Taelina, air-quoting the last word.

"Can't you just punt her through a portal?" said Chloe.

"Well, yes, I suppose," said Taelina, "Though making portals isn't as easy as it used to be."

"You are not going to use me for one," snapped NegaMorph.

"That was a last resort," snapped Taelina, nobody noticing one of the statues turning its head.

"Guys, I'm not sure if my spider-sense is reacting to being close to Bahfeliz or something dangerous is going to be happening soon," said Spider-Man, clutching his head.

"There's nobody here," said Chloe, sniffing the air curiously.

"That's not what my spider-sense is saying," said Spider-Man, "Pretty sure it's saying 'incoming danger' now."

Man-Wolf turned to talk before immediately going for his sword, spotting one of the lion statues getting ready to pounce on White Tiger. "Look out!" he called.

Everyone turned as the lion statue leapt, White Tiger diving out of the way as the other statue stood up. "You have got to be joking," snapped Matt.

"It does make sense, you know," said Squirrel Girl.

"How? They're statues?" snapped Matt, blasting one of the statues, only for the shot to barely crack it.

"They're _lion_ statues," said Squirrel Girl.

"So what? She has power over all cats now?" snapped Matt.

"Most likely, she was a surprisingly skilled mage," said Taelina, her blade slicing the paw of a statue swiping at her before she nearly decapitated it.

Surprisingly, the statue immediately reappeared at its original spot, completely intact. However, it looked like it might be getting up again. "Oh, that's just cheating!" snapped Matt.

Chloe snapped, "Ok, did she cheat sheet the damn universe?" Her eyes started to glow green.

Matt noticed the glow and quickly backed up. "Now, Chloe, you should hold onto anger like that," said Matt.

"Why? My local version's a mutant brainwashed lackey. My God, so's yours. WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE ANGRY?" Chloe snapped in fury. The others were giving Chloe more space, not just because of her growing anger, but because of how electricity was starting to arc around and over her.

Taelina was the only one unconcerned, before, to at least Matt, apparently tried to commit suicide by Hulk by saying "Isn't she technically a mutate?"

"WHO...BLOODY...CARES?!" snapped Chloe.

"Taelina, I recommend aborting this train of thought?" said Matt, struggling with one of the statues, the other lunging at Chloe.

"A berserker would be useful to us now," said Taelina, "Perhaps that mutation made her part Orc."

"Really...don't," said NegaMorph, trying to distract the statue, only to be trampled by it, the statue leaping at Chloe and hitting her...like it had hit a brick wall, Chloe not even staggering, though it did draw her attention.

"I've had just about enough of these doorstops!" she snarled before grabbing the lion, lifting it over her head, and tearing it in half. However, the lion immediately returned to its original position intact. It immediately lunged again, only for Chloe, who was getting bigger, grabbed it by the head and smashed it again.

"You know...I think she has this," said Matt nervously.

"Since these statues are just going to keep respawning, maybe we should go inside the library while Chloe's dealing with them," said Spider-Man.

"Agreed," said Man-wolf, heading for the door.

"Keep up the good work, sis," called Matt as he headed for the door.

The remaining group burst into the library, weapons at the ready. "Ok, where is she?" asked Taelina.

"SHHHHHHHH!" hissed a voice. They looked to see the librarian glaring at them. "This is a library," she hissed.

"Hey...why aren't you a cat?" said Matt before flinching as the librarian hushed him again.

"Perhaps she has a natural resistance against-" started Moon Knight.

"SHHHH!" hushed the Librarian, Matt swearing her eyes glowed for a second.

"Let's try to keep it quiet," whispered Matt. Matt turned to explain to the librarian why they were here only to see the desk empty. "Ok...I vote we do this quick," he said in a weak voice.

"So which way to the basement?" asked Spider-Man.

"Shouldn't you know?" asked Matt.

"I haven't had a lot of time to hang around the library," said Spider-Man.

"There should be marked stairs," said Man-Wolf, looking around.

"I think they're over here," said Squirrel Girl, walking around a corner.

The group followed down a corridor to a door smashed off its hinges. "Gee...I wonder if she'll leave a neon sign next?" said Matt sarcastically, before smelling burning plastic. Of course, being a wolf, it was even worse than usual.

He turned, covering his snout to see a faint wisp of white smoke, barely noticeable from Squirrel Girls wrist. "Oh boy," he muttered before there was a shower of sparks from it.

Squirrel Girl paused before yawning, "I'm feeling a little sleepy."

"Erm...yeah, there's a..." said Matt, looking around desperately, before opening a door. "This nice warm closet," he said manically.

"Yeah, that does look warm," said Squirrel Girl, oblivious to how her ears were moving to the top of her head and turning pointed and furry.

"Welp that nap won't sleep itself," said Matt, pointing at the ears behind her back before making 'play along' motions.

"I mean, you've been up for hours," said Spider-Man, "You're probably overdue for a nap."

Squirrel Girl nodded, yawning and showing off some sharper teeth before yowling as Matt gave up, pushed her in and slammed the door, crushing the doorknob so it couldn't be reopened. "And that's why reality generators are your friend," he gibbered in panic.

"So, how long do we have before we go kitty?" asked Spider-Man.

"Longer than you think," said NegaMorph, "Your reality bracelets get their power from the same source. Since Squirrel Cat shorted out, you have more power."

"Closer we get though, the harder they need to work," said Matt grimly.

"In that case, maybe some of us need protection more," said White Tiger, fiddling with her bracelet.

"Wait," said Matt in horror, before she took the bracelet off.

"I have-" started White Tiger before Matt pinned her against the wall.

Matt's expression had shifted, his eyes now a blue white color and narrowed. For a second nobody moved, until Matt's eyes flickered back to their yellow color and he backed off.

It was then that the others noticed a warm, golden glow coming from the Tiger Amulet. "Like I said, I have a better connection to my tiger side," said White Tiger, "I don't think I can be taken over that easily." With that, she shifted into tigress form.

Matt paused. "Ok...new," he muttered.

"Lynch, I can understand getting worried about her going feline," said NegaMorph, "But it looked like you were about to gut her."

"NegaMorph..." said Matt in a low voice, his eyes shut, before finishing, "Please...shut up."

"Don't push him," said Man-Wolf, "He's struggling enough as it is."

NegaMorph paused, realising he could _just_ make out Matt muttering a meditation mantra to himself before he reopened his eyes. "Let's just hurry. This magic's getting to me too," he said darkly.

"Yeah, let's get moving before the next crazy thing happens," said Spider-Man, "Like the books flying off the shelves and attacking us."

Just then, Matt spotted a book starting to move off a shelf. "Don't...even...think about it," he growled. The book immediately slid itself back into place. "Nobody talk about rabid books," he snapped out loud.

"That's more Hermaeus Mora's demesne," said Taelina.

"Just don't tempt fate!" snapped Matt, his eyes glowing the same blue for a second.

"Oh, look, the basement door," said NegaMorph, opening a door that led to a dark staircase.

The group headed into the staircase, Matt about to follow when Man-Wolf grabbed his arm, Matt turning and aiming a slash that was just stopped. "I thought so," Man-Wolf said calmly.

"Would you please stop doing that?" asked Matt, "It's the equivalent of poking a sleeping bear with a stick."

"I know what you're going through. I've been where you are," said Man-wolf calmly.

Matt glared, "You have no idea what I've been through."

"You are struggling with controlling your feral instincts while also dealing with the memories and habits of another being," said Man-Wolf.

"You don't get it. It's not some other person like you. It's a literal weapon," managed Matt.

"And you are far more than that," said Man-Wolf.

"I'm gonna kill someone. I know it and I won't be able to stop it," managed Matt.

"Only until Taelina changes you back," said Man-Wolf.

"If she will," snarled Matt, his eye twitching.

"I will make sure she will," said Man-Wolf.

"If I lose it...you knock me down and out," Matt snapped.

"I'll do my best," said Man-Wolf.

"Warwolf's a killer. Do better," said Matt darkly, heading for the stairs.

* * *

They could feel the magic in the air around them like a heavy fog. And not a San Francisco Bay fog or a London pea-soup fog. Bahfeliz was really close, but there was one last pitfall up ahead. Or more accurately, down ahead.

NegaMorph found it first...well the descending scream seemed to indicate he had. "Ok...are pits of death usual in New York libraries?" asked Matt casually, looking down.

"You'd think so, but no," said Spider-Man, "Maybe this is where they send people who are really overdo."

"NegaMorph? You ok down there?" called Matt.

"It smells down here," called NegaMorph.

"Good for you...can anyone see a way round?" asked Matt.

"Not unless you can crawl on the walls and ceiling," said Spider-Man, going up a wall as he spoke.

"Show off," said White Tiger.

"Fine...there's gotta be a secondary path," muttered Matt, leaning on a wall and soundlessly vanishing from sight as it rotated.

"Well, how many possible paths could there... Where did he go?" asked Taelina, looking around.

* * *

"Hah...and everyone asked me why I learnt a spell to make traps," laughed Bahfeliz, watching the group via a floating image.

"I didn't know the library had rotating walls," said Morph.

"It didn't," said Bahfeliz, "But the cube's energy allows me to manipulate the reality here more effectively than I thought."

Morph blinked at that before he smiled. "I wonder where it goes? Wouldn't it be weird if it led all the way to h-" he began before Bahfeliz covered his mouth before he could finish his train of thought.

"No more babble. I need to scatter the rest of them. There is one of them I'd like to see alone," said Bahfeliz.

"Which one?" asked Morph.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Bahfeliz.

"Oh, right. You wanna see your sister again," said Morph.

"What?" began Bahfeliz in confusion. Just then, Taelina fell from the ceiling. "No, not her!" snapped Bahfeliz, Taelina managing a 'what?' before she vanished in a flash of light.

"Ooooh...you wanna see someone else," said Morph.

"Yes, the one in white," said Behfeliz.

"Got it," said Morph, Moon Knight suddenly appearing.

"You!" snapped Moon Knight, drawing his sword.

"NOT HIM!" shrieked Bahfeliz. Moon Knight vanished before he could land the blow. "I meant the one with white fur!" snapped Bahfeliz.

"Okie lokie." said Morph, Man-Wolf appearing, blinking in confusion before noticing Bahfeliz and his eyes going feral, snarling.

"Oh for Oblivion's sake, the tigress one!" Bahfeliz snapped.

"Oh, why didn't you say so?" asked Morph, Man-Wolf being replaced with White Tiger.

Bahfeliz peered out from where she'd been barricading against Man-Wolf before saying cautiously, "You sure? It's not some squid version from another realm of reality?"

"I'm not allowed to look for extradimensional cephalopods," said Morph, "Besides, they make lousy calamari."

White Tiger seemed to snap to her senses before noticing Bahfeliz. "You," she snapped.

"At ease, tigress," said Bahfeliz, "You wouldn't wish to harm a feline sister." A second later, Bahfeliz was slumped against the wall from a kick from White Tiger. "I'll take that as a yes," she said dizzily.

"You're going to turn everything back," growled White Tiger.

"And why would you want it back?" asked Bahfeliz, "In this world of cats, you could easily be a queen." Bahfeliz got up unsteadily before waving a hand, an image of Kraven appearing. "In this world, you could have your righteous revenge on him. Punish him for taking the life of your father," she said smugly.

"I've already settled that score. And I can take him down again whenever I want," said White Tiger.

"And yet he still lives. What tigress leaves her enemy alive?" said Bahfeliz, her eyes glowing.

"You know how cats like to play with their food," said White Tiger, "But I'm also much more than a cat."

"Indeed...you're better. These humans are below you," said Bahfeliz smugly.

"You think my ego's as big as that?" asked White Tiger, "I know there are heroes greater than me, villains I can't take down alone. I'm already high enough in my rank."

"And who told you that?" said Bahfeliz with a smirk, her eyes glowing yellow. White Tiger blinked as her head started to feel fuzzy. "You have power gifted from a god," said Bahfeliz, "You have barely unearthed what all you can do now."

Bahfeliz smirked at that before continuing, "They're the ones who told you that you have limits, that you have...weaknesses. What goddess has a weakness?" she sneered.

"There are still...stronger..." said White Tiger.

"Like who? The tailless wonder? You could defeat him easily. Face it, you're better than them all. They're just leftovers from a world that is far better now," said Bahfeliz smugly.

White Tiger's amulet started to glow brightly.

* * *

In Ava's mind, she found herself facing a golden tiger. "What do you think you're doing?" asked the tiger.

"Who are you? You're not Bai Hu." snapped Ava.

"Think of me as a spirit guide. Something Bai Hu put into this new amulet to guide your children and grandchildren and so on when you pass the amulet down," said the golden tiger, "Now, as I was saying, what do you think you're doing? You're not actually listening to this tabby, are you?"

"Are you joking? She's about as convincing as Doctor Doom. I'm just stalling," said Ava.

"Stalling?" asked the golden tiger.

"Down here, Bahfeliz can twist around the basement however she wants. She can keep everyone from getting near her until she's able to complete her spell," said Ava, "But if she's just focusing on me, the other can catch up."

"You underestimate her," warned the golden tiger.

"Like she said, I have the power of a god behind me," said Ava, "Why would I want to listen to her?"

"There, that is her corruption talking," snapped the golden tiger.

"Oh, come on," said Ava, "You don't feel any need to listen to her."

"I'm only a guide. I'm not trying to take control like Bai Hu. All she has to do is stoke your ego and you'll find yourself agreeing with her."

"I do not have an ego," snapped Ava.

"You know better than that," snapped the golden tiger.

"See? They all want to limit you," said Bahfeliz's voice in her ear.

"Ava, you're already falling into her trap," said the golden tiger.

"He's lying..." sneered Bahfeliz, the voice echoing.

"You're doubting me," snapped Ava.

"No, I am not. You must listen," snapped the golden tiger.

"I don't have to listen to anyone!" snapped Ava.

"No, I-" began the golden tiger before a green energy caused him to vanish.

Bahfeliz's voice said, "That's right. You don't."

* * *

"There's no way a library's basement is this extensive," said Matt as he wandered along a corridor, "Bahfeliz must be turning this place into a dungeon." He walked up to a door, opening it and having his fur blown back by a deep droning noise, a single eyeball staring before he closed it, his expression one of shellshock, before gently petting the doorknob and walking on stiffly. "Yeah...be careful with the doors," he rasped.

Then he heard something coming around the next corner. "Ok, I'm ready this time," said Matt, baring his claws.

He waited till the figure was in view before bringing his claws down, the shape falling apart. "Oh man...real adult," snapped the shape in NegaMorph's voice.

"I wanted to make sure," said Matt in a very unconvincing tone.

"Save it for later," said NegaMorph as he reformed, "We need to find that cat."

"Yeah, she's turned this place into a damn maze," said Matt, "I feel like a rat in here."

"Oh, you've met the wererats too," said NegaMorph.

"No, met a giant eyeball though...wait, wererats?" said Matt, double taking.

"Yeah, I think she's got them after most of the others," said NegaMorph.

"I didn't know there were wererats on Nirn," said Matt.

"Apparently they're some half-baked idea of Hircine's, but then he got into an argument with Peryite, Daedric Prince of diseases and pests about who the skeevers belong to."

Matt paused. "Where did you learn that?" he said suspiciously, flexing his claws again.

"Picked up some lore at the Thieves Guild," said NegaMorph, "But I got the rest from some of the wererats. They're really chatty when they're not trying to kill you."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "Rats taking order from kitties? Isn't that like coconut cake taking orders from the experiments?" he asked.

"Well, she's still a Daughter of the Hunt," said NegaMorph, "Though they'll apparently take orders from anyone who threatens to eat them. They don't have a lot of backbone."

"Maybe...look, have you seen the way out?" asked Matt.

NegaMorph shook his head, "Just the door with the giant eyeball."

"Have you at least seen the others?" asked Matt.

"No, not even the tekpack comm works down here," snapped NegaMorph, opening a door and slamming it again, just before a tentacle came out, "What is behind these damn doors?"

"I'm starting to wonder if we're even on Earth anymore," said Matt.

"Probably not...have you met the paper people yet?" asked Nega, turning a corner.

"I've barely seen anything," said Matt, "I'm just about one more eyeball encounter from just blowing up every wall in a straight line."

"That might work," said NegaMorph, a blaster unfolding from his tekpack and blasting a wall.

"Should have started this sooner," said Matt, pulling out his own blaster. The wall was blown apart to reveal a shocked Spider-Man and Man-Wolf. "Hey guys. Can you step a little bit to the left?" asked Matt.

"Where have you been? Bahfeliz launched some sort of attack. She's scattered us," snapped Man-Wolf.

"No, really?" asked Matt in mock surprise.

"White Tiger is missing," continued Man-Wolf.

"And neither Moon Nut and Taelina are here, I see," said Matt, not sounding concerned.

"No...what a shame," said Man-wolf innocently.

"Anyways, I don't think we're getting anywhere," said Spider-Man.

"Oh, I just figured if we blast a straight line through here, we'll either find Bahfeliz or the way out," said Matt, "Or at least she can't keep ignoring us."

NegaMorph nodded, "It's not like we're actually damaging the library. If we were, we'd have inconvenienced a few subway tunnels by now."

"Now, if you can just take a few steps to the left..." said Matt, aiming his blaster.

The group jerked out the way, Matt aiming before blasting the wall, to reveal White Tiger on the other side. "Oh...sorry," called Matt apologetically. However, White Tiger snarled at Matt. "I said sorry," said Matt.

"Ava?" said Spider-Man before his spider-sense went into overdrive around the same time White Tiger's eyes glowed and she lunged at Matt, tackling them both through a door.

"Matt, get back here," said NegaMorph, going to the door that had mysteriously closed behind them. He opened it, only to be greeted by a lot of bleating followed by spit hitting his face. "Stupid llamas," grumbled NegaMorph, slamming the door.

* * *

Matt skidded across the tiles, the door having taken them to some sort of indoor arena that wouldn;t have looked out of place in ancient rome. "Ok...ow..." he grumbled, getting up and shaking his head. Looking around, he said, "Ok, this had got to be breaking some dungeons rules, Tesseract or not."

"You should have left, mutt," snarled White Tiger, Matt raising an eyebrow before hearing clapping above.

Matt looked up to where the emperor's seat would be. To little surprise, Bahfeliz was sitting there, clapping. "I'm pretty sure Cyrodiil has nothing like this," called Matt.

"I'm in a library," said Bahfeliz, "I've taken the time to read."

"Where's Morph, you overgrown alley cat?" snapped Matt.

"That's for me to know and you to ponder while your head rolls across the floor," said Bahfeliz.

White Tiger lunged at that, Matt's hand shooting up and grabbing her wrist, before turning to show glowing blue eyes...as he started to grow, his shirt and boots tearing apart. "That...is the last...straw..." he snarled in a deeper voice before he threw White Tiger at the far wall with an angry howl.

"Ooh, this may be interesting yet," said Bahfeliz.

White Tiger had managed to avoid a nasty impact and was getting up, as Matt snapped "You want to see what the wolf can do?" Small cybernetics grew around one of his eyes with a crackling.

"What did Taelina put in him?" asked Bahfeliz in puzzlement.

"Who said she put any of this in me?" snarled Matt.

Bahfeliz rolled her eyes. "Ava, be a dear and rip his throat out," she said, leaning back in her chair. White Tiger let out a reverberating roar before leaping at Matt.

Matt growled coldly before dodging to the side at the last minute, his claws held out to rake, before turning and clawing her across the back. "This is not helping my self-control," he growled, backing up.

"Well, I really need to test her limits, don't I?" asked Bahfeliz.

Matt growled as White Tiger tackled him again, only for him to headbutt her, snarling loudly before aiming his wrist, a glowing red light seen. White Tiger had the presence of mind to duck as a needle-thin red beam lanced out, burning a neat pinhole in the far wall.

* * *

"These stupid doors go nowhere!" snapped NegaMorph, slamming the door on a room of dancing hamsters. They managed to find Moon Knight and Taelina, but no one else.

"Yeah, I get the feeling Morph is making most of these doors," said Spider-Man.

"Well, that would make sense. We're never going to get anywhere...purple...monkey...hairdryer..." NegaMorph trailed off as a thin red beam went through his head.

The others looked surprised before Spider-Man peered through the hole just in time for said hole to be blocked by someone hitting it. "Found them," he called.

NegaMorph said dizzily, "I can taste colours..." before he fell backwards.

"This should only take a moment," said Man-Wolf before slashing the wall with his sword.

The wall fell away into an arena, White Tiger and a rather large werewolf-like creature grappling in the middle of the room, both looking the worse for wear.

"I think we need to break them up quick," said Spider-Man.

"Start by separating them," said Taelina, "Man-Wolf, Moon Knight, hold Matt back."

Matt seemed to hear that, turning to look and snarling in a voice that definitely wasn't Matt's, "Stay out of this." before White Tiger sucker clawed him.

"Spider-Man, NegaMorph, get White Tiger out of the way," said Taelina.

"Which color is white again?" asked NegaMorph, bonking his own head.

"And what are you doing?" asked Spider-Man.

"I will have words with my sister," said Taelina.

Matt yelped as Man-Wolf grabbed him, before digging his feet in and pushing back. "GET...OFF!" he roared, slapping a device on Man-Wolf's chest armor.

"This isn't you, Matt. You have to-" started Man-Wolf before he got zapped.

"You're interfering with a military operation," snapped 'Matt', kicking Man-Wolf back before turning just in time to avoid a slash from Moon Knight

"Your mind has been corrupted like the dark spell that shrouds the moon's true light. But I shall bring clarity to both," said Moon Knight.

"Oh shut up and catch," snapped the wolf, pulling one of Matt's grenades out and tossing it at Moon Knight's feet. Moon Knight quickly kicked the grenade away, causing it to bounce around the arena. "Idiot!" snapped the wolf, punching Moon Knight before blasting the grenade.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man and NegaMorph were finding White Tiger a little hard to talk to. "I thought she said she had this tiger thing under control," snapped NegaMorph who was trying to hold her in place.

"Get out of my way, Parker!" snapped White Tiger, clawing her way free of another webbing attempt.

"Ava, this isn't you," said Spider-Man, laying down more webs, "Bahfeliz got into your head, didn't she?"

"No, she didn't! I have complete control!" snapped White Tiger.

"Yeah, and my pockets are full of sardines," said NegaMorph sarcastically.

"Ava, this isn't you," said Spider-Man, White Tiger pausing for a second before snarling. "Listen, you've been able to take out Kraven without sinking to his level. You've managed to heal Bai Hu and free him from his prison. Don't you think you can be better than this?" asked Spider-Man.

White Tiger's amulet glowed faintly at that, Bahfeliz pausing. "Hey, hey!" she snapped, getting up before jumping back as Taelina pulled herself up onto the balcony.

"Bahfeliz, this must stop," growled Taelina.

"I'm not stopping for anyone, especially you," snapped Bahfeliz.

"This is not Oblivion or Nirn. You know our father's rule," snapped Taelina.

"So I can't have a place of my own where I'm not under his thumb?" snapped Bahfeliz, "But you get to leave if you want. He always favored you more."

"He banished me, you idiot," snapped Taelina, summoning twin daggers.

"Aw, fallen out of favor like the rest of us?" asked Bahfeliz mockingly.

"Better than be banished for treason," sneered Taelina, Bahfeliz's eyes going wide in anger.

"Isn't that just like you? After all this time, you're still his prized hunting dog," snapped Bahfeliz.

"You say that like it's a dishonor," said Taelina.

"It's a mockery for you to stay at his side for more attention and scraps," snapped Bahfeliz.

"Oh, and I should be like you? Snooty and aloof? That's certainly a way to earn Father's favor. Oh, woe is me. Daddy doesn't let me go on hunts by myself," taunted Taelina in a mock high-pitched voice.

"Better than you. Daddy, Daddy, can we go for walkies now? Can we? Can we? Can we?" mocked Bahfeliz.

"At least I could find a mate," sneered Taelina.

Bahfeliz twitched before saying, "Why you little-" and lunging.

The others watched as the two demigoddesses tussled in a rather unprofessional way. "It's times like this that I'm glad I'm an only child," said Spider-Man.

"Get off..." snapped Matt, before noticing the fight. "Now that's not how soldiers should act," he commented.

The sisters heard that and both snapped at the same time "SHUT UP!" though Taelina added "Handsome." before covering her mouth and snapping "None of you heard that."

"Hey, Spidey, is White Tiger snapping out of it yet?" asked NegaMorph.

"I dunno. She's not attacking us," said Spider-Man, looking cautiously at White Tiger, taking the lack of spider-sense as a good sign

"Ok, if she's settled, then let's go find Morph while Taelina keeps her fat cat sister occupied," said NegaMorph.

There was a terrible silence before Taelina groaned, "Oh, he had to say it."

"FAT CAT?" snapped Bahfeliz, punching Taelina aside and leaping at NegaMorph who managed a scream just before impact.

When Bahfeliz lifted him up by the next, NegaMorph couldn't resist one last jab. "You know, I thought lionesses were supposed to do most of the hunting themselves. You sure you're supposed to be an actual lioness?" he asked.

"You want to see the lion?" snarled Bahfeliz, her eyes glowing gold.

There was some crackling noises before NegaMorph noticed he was further from the ground. "Ok, I don't wanna see the lionEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!" he said, screaming the last part as he was thrown across the arena to splat against the wall. "Remember kids...don't taunt half-demon lion people...someone always gets huuuurrrt..." he rasped.

One may think the differences between Khajiit and werelion would be minimal, but that was not Bahfeliz's case. She had put on at least two feet of height and at least a hundred pounds of muscle. Her lashing tail now had a tuft of dark hair at the end and, strangely enough, the black hair on her head had actually shortened, with just dark fur on the back. But her face had changed the most, as clearly distinct as the difference between housecat and lioness. And boy did she look angry. "Fat am I?" she snarled, squeezing NegaMorph.

"Rough...kittenhood...I presume..." gasped NegaMorph.

"No, she really was a fat cat," called Taelina from the balcony

Bahfeliz's roar reverberated as impressively as White Tiger's before she threw NegaMorph at her half-sister. Taelina yelped as she was knocked out of sight before Bahfeliz snapped at Ava, "You fool! You have ONE JOB!"

White Tiger glared back at Bahfeliz and said, "Like I said, I don't take orders from you."

Bahfeliz stared for a moment before snapping, "HOW DARE YOU?"

"Tigers are solitary predators, remember? And we especially don't take orders from lions," said Whiter Tiger.

Bahfeliz twitched before igniting a fireball in her hand. "You will obey me, cat!" roared Bahfeliz before throwing the fireball at White Tiger. The others scattered as White Tiger dodged the fireball and lunged

"Whoa, catfight," said Spider-Man as the two female felines grappled and clawed with each other. The others gave him a flat look. "What? Someone had to say it," said Spider-Man.

"He's not wrong," called NegaMorph.

'Matt' finally forced himself to his feet, grabbing Man-Wolf and Moon Knight before slamming their heads together. "Out of the way. Clear the target," he snarled, aiming his wrist at the two felines.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Spider-Man, shooting webbing over his wrist, "You're only allowed to shoot one of them."

'Matt's' eyes narrowed before he tore the webbing off, stalking forward. "Out the way, kid," he snarled.

"Not until I know your IFF is working right," said Spider-Man.

"I'm working fine," snapped 'Matt'.

"Yeah, that's not enough context to reassure me," said Spider-Man.

Matt glared, balling his fist before Man-Wolf cracked him across the back of the head. "I think this particular werewolf program is harder to talk through than your basic rampaging monster," said Man-Wolf.

Spider-Man began to web Matt up. "We'll need to deal with him later," he said.

"Yeah, Taelina is definitely switching that thing off as soon as this cat's been declawed," said NegaMorph, appearing beside Spider-Man, "And for us to do so, we need to find Morph. He has to be somewhere close."

There was a flash of light from behind Bahfeliz's balcony before what appeared to be a swarm of sandwiches with bat wings flew from behind it. "Never mind, found him," said NegaMorph darkly.

"Then how about we start getting things back to normal?" suggested Spider-Man.

* * *

Morph's trail was...easy to follow. You just had to follow the lack of logic...and boy was there alot.

"He's definitely the one behind the weird doors," said NegaMorph, pushing one such door away as it floated by.

Morph was sat in the same container, eating one of the flying sandwiches. "Oh, hey guys," he said happily as if nothing was wrong.

"Morph, have you been making any effort at all to escape?" asked NegaMorph in irritation.

"Escape?" asked Morph.

NegaMorph's eye twitched and he held up his Lockblade to stab Morph's container. "Uh, let's check if this thing has an off switch first," said Spider-Man.

"Not unless you're registered," said Morph, "That's why the kitty lady had to take the whole thing."

"Oh please, it's a big glass-" said NegaMorph, grabbing it and being blasted back out the door.

"So who's registered?" asked Spider-Man.

"Matt and Chloe," said Morph.

"I think we'd have better luck with Chloe," groaned NegaMorph as he staggered back in.

"Ok, did you tie up the angry kitty?" asked Morph, an angry shriek of 'STOP CALLING ME THAT!" heard from the arena.

"It's a work in progress," said Spider-Man.

"Ok, cause she's the one doing some of the work on this," said Morph, poking his belly.

"You don't say," said NegaMorph dryly before saying evilly, "I got an idea..."

* * *

"Do you really think you can defeat me?" snapped Bahfeliz angrily, sending another fireball out.

"Well, you didn't seem like the kind of cat that does most of her own fighting," said White Tiger.

"WAS THAT ANOTHER FAT JOKE? I WAS JUST BIG-BONED!" snapped Bahfeliz.

"I wasn't implying that all," said White Tiger. However, Bahfeliz didn't seem to care, as she sent a lightning bolt at White Tiger.

"I'll teach you to call me fat! I'll eat your soul!" she roared before some sort of container brained her from the side

"Does she ever stop caterwauling?" griped NegaMorph as he and Spider-Man walked. He turned to Spider-Man and said, "See? That's the kind of cat puns you should be using."

"Can I get out now?" asked Morph, who was inside the container.

"Just a sec. Where's Matt?" asked Spider-Man. He looked over to where Man-Wolf, Moon Knight, and Taelina were holding him down.

NegaMorph walked up before sniffing Matt. "Ooooh...I can smell the genetic modification from here. Probably didn't sense it at first cause of the hairballs," he said to himself.

"Well the container still recognize him?" asked Spider-Man.

"One way to find out," said NegaMorph, grabbing the struggling wolf's hand and shoving it against the container, which clicked open.

Morph waddled out, before looking at Matt who glowered before looking at NegaMorph, "Can we keep him?"

"You know, I've been telling myself we have more important things to deal with. But after what I've put up with today..." said NegaMorph before he delivered a hard kick to Morph's patookie. Morph didn't fly forward very much, but it caused the Tesseract to shoot out of his mouth.

Bahfeliz, who was coming round, spotted this. "MINE!" she snapped, pushing White Tiger aside.

"Wait! Don't touch!" called Spider-Man. But the werelioness had already grabbed the cube which started to crackle with energy.

"Hah! Now I'll show you all! Maybe I'll turn you into mice?" she laughed, not noticing she was starting to fade away.

"Er, that is not something to handle without proper equipment," said Spider-Man as a portal started forming over Bahfeliz's head.

"Shut up...you...you...mortal!" snapped Bahfeliz, looking at the Tesseract while giggling insanely.

Taelina tsked and said, "She never did learn when she should let something go. Say 'hi' to Father for me."

Bahfeliz actually looked confused at that before finally noticing the wind sucking her up. "No, no, no! This is my world! I am its right conqueror. This world is meant for-" It was at that point, that the Tesseract fell through her immaterial hand. "No! That's mine!" snapped Bahfeliz, before pausing, her eyes going wide with fear as an ominous howl came through the portal.

"Goodbye Bahfeliz," said Taelina, "Perhaps you'll catch Father in a merciful mood. Or he'll catch you while feeling merciful."

"No! NO!" screamed Bahfeliz before something invisible yanked her through the portal, which sealed itself.

"Ok...what was that?" said White Tiger a tad nervously.

Taelina said proudly, "That was Father." Man-Wolf stepped to the side away from her carefully.

Just then, the arena seemed to...ripple. "I think her spell is breaking," said Spider-Man.

"Indeed," said Moon Knight, "Already, I can hear the moon's true voice growing stronger. Her tainting of the lunar light is fading."

"Meaning we're in a collapsing pocket dimension," said Morph cheerfully, before frowning, "Wait, that's not good, is it?"

"Can someone make us a door out of here?" asked White Tiger nervously.

"Have you tried the fire exit?" asked Morph.

"Your doors lead nowhere, remember?" snapped NegaMorph.

"I wouldn't mess with the fire doors." said Morph pointing to a door that had definitely not been there before.

Spider-Man hurried over to the door. "Spider-sense says it's safe," said Spider-Man.

There was a small pause as everyone looked at Matt who snapped, "Do I look like the sort of idiot who fights in a burning house?"

"Debatable," said NegaMorph flatly.

"We don't have time to argue," snapped Man-Wolf.

Just then, the door turned purple before turning into a vortex. "Spider-Man, through here, quickly," called Doctor Strange's voice.

The group didn't need telling, mostly as the room was starting to rapidly shrink and being crushed into infinity could really put a crimp on your day.

* * *

The group fell out inside the Sanctum Santorium. "You have done well," said Doctor Strange, "The spell that has enshrouded Manhattan is fading. Everything will be back to normal soon enough."

"As normal as it ever gets," said White Tiger before she shrank back down to human form, "I am definitely going to feel stiff in the morning."

"Good...now where was I?" said Matt, standing up before aiming his blaster at White Tiger.

"Matt, that's enough. It's over," said Spider-Man.

"That's not your friend," said Man-Wolf, charging Matt.

"Still? I thought he snapped out of it," said Spider-Man.

"That's where I know this from. Hold him still," said NegaMorph, readying his Lockblade.

"Uh, what are you doing?" asked Spider-Man.

"Hold him very, very still..." said NegaMorph.

Man-Wolf managed to get Matt in an armlock with some help from a spell from Doctor Strange. "Ok, now hold him still. If he moves at the wrong moment, his brain will be fr...you know what, it doesn't matter," he said with a grin.

"Are you sure you know you're doing?" asked Man-Wolf.

"Well, I think I'm supposed to stab this into his heart, but that's not the part I want to change," said NegaMorph.

Matt focussed on the blade at that, growling before pulling free. "You drop that-" he began, Nega dodging and slashing through Matt's head, his blade glowing. The blade itself seemed to ghost through Matt's head, who staggered to a halt before falling backwards with a goofy grin on his face.

"This may take a little fine-tuning," said NegaMorph.

"My head hurts," grumbled Matt, his form shrinking down to his normal size.

"Never mind, I got it," said NegaMorph before pointing at Taelina, "Ok, your turn. Change him back and lock up the wolf."

Taelina looked at Matt with a gloomy look as he got up before asking "One thing first?"

"And what's that?" asked NegaMorph.

Taelina walked over to Matt before grabbing him and kissing him passionately on the snout, Matt having a dazed surprised look as she let go. "Ok..." she said happily, clicking her claws. Matt immediately started shrinking down, losing his lupine features until he was back to normal.

"Wait, that's all it took?" asked White Tiger.

"Of course. Half the fun was convincing every mage on Nirn that all that showy crap's necessary on our world," said Taelina with a grin.

"Right, well, there are a few things we need to wrap up," said Spider-Man before holding up a webbing bag that had a cube-shaped lump in it that was making the webbing smoke a little, "Hey Doc, got any room among your mystical artifacts for a cosmic-powered block?"

"Of course, Spider-Man. The Tesseract will be quite safe here," said Doctor Strange before giving Taelina a dark look.

"What? I did my part," said Taelina.

"Yes, but your presence here could still cause much trouble," said Doctor Strange, "I think it's best you go back to where you came from."

"Back to that boring old brig?" groaned Taelina.

"You are not using me as a door again," snapped NegaMorph.

"Back to your realm," said Doctor Strange pointedly.

"Can't. Dad wants me to get in touch with my mortal side," said Taelina smugly.

"That can be arranged," said Doctor Strange.

"Huh, there's gratitude. No wonder all the werewolves here hide," muttered Taelina to herself.

"We can't send her back to the brig," said Matt.

"I knew you'd warm up to me," said Taelina smugly.

"No, I mean we can't send her back because we can't reach the _Bladestorm_ or have any idea where it is," said Matt.

"Well you're not locking me in some basement," said Taelina calmly.

"I think we can," said Matt, "Doctor Strange, I assume you have a few magical creature containment seals."

"Yes...lock me in the secret sanctorum full of magical weapons," said Taelina with a grin, before a spell hit her.

"For the record, I was referring to our basement," said Matt, "I was asking Strange if we could borrow a seal."

"Already done," said Strange, "I've sealed her magic, including her transformation power."

"So? I'm still a lycanthrope. I'm physically superior to all of you," said Taelina. She pointed at the group. "I've been a thrope for 500 years. I can...what's that noise?" she sneered.

Doctor Strange quickly gestured at the front doors before they were smashed open. Chloe stormed in. She was still looking hulked up though her clothes were looking pretty ragged. Most importantly, she still looked angry.

"I...got left...fighting...those two...stone...lions..." she said darkly.

Matt said, "We're sorry. Taelina wanted to rush." before jumping to the side.

Taelina managed to say "Oh that's a load of shi-" before Chloe tackled her.

Just then, Matt got a call on his phone. Matt answered and said, "Hey Kala, what's up? Yeah, there was some weird stuff, but it's over. Yeah, I'd get some to get the taste of anchovy out. Yes, we did take care of everything." He put a hand over the phone and asked, "We did take care of everything, right?"

* * *

Back at the library, a closet rattled a little, the handle bent out of shape. "Guys? Hello?" said Squirrel Girl's voice.

* * *

"No, I think we're good. Yeah, Taelina turned up...yeah, she helped. Did she hit on me?" said Matt, before looking at where Chloe was pounding Taelina into the ground. "Nah, she got exactly what karma wanted," he said.

"Also, get a cell prepped in the basement. We can use some of that anti-magic stuff we're preparing for Megan. Actually no, we haven't seen her tonight, but we saw Manticora. Wonder where she went."

* * *

"Can we _please_ order pizza now?" snapped Falcore. The hideout lockdown had not gone well.

"I'd give it another hour," said Lady Nega, "These big spells tend to have residual effects."

There was a knock at the door at that, before whoever was on the other side didn't bother to wait, a hole dissolving in the door before Manticora walked in, "I...hate...you...all..." she said darkly, "I'm going to bed."

Lady Nega started to say, "You are not. I need to know wh-" before Manticora turned and shrieked in her face, her lower jaw unhinging to reveal a terrifying tooth-filled maw. "...sleep well," squeaked Lady Nega.

Manticora snorted before stomping off. "Were...those the residual effects you were talking about?" asked Falcore, unnerved.

"I don't know...I hope so. I'm going to go to my laboratory and scream until what I saw leaves my memory...you?" said Lady Nega in a distant voice.

Falcore said, "Same...we never speak of this ever again."

* * *

"Er, shouldn't we stop Chloe now?" asked Man-Wolf.

"Not now, she's establishing dominance," said Matt.

"For Oblivion's sake, I giiiive!" screamed Taelina at that, Chloe actually pausing before lifting her to eye level.

"Unless you want to be locked in our basement with as much power and movement ability as a banana, you will be nice, comprende?" she snarled.

"What?" asked Taelina.

"It means 'understand'," said NegaMorph.

"I understand," winced Taelina.

Chloe dropped her before adding, "And you earn your pay." Taelina somehow finding the smile chilling.

* * *

Silvana landed in the alley across from the coffee shop. "Man, I hope they found help that won;t be scared off," she muttered, shifting to her disguise form. "Those egg-smashing idiots always EEP!" she said, jumping aside as one of the people who usually teased her over her uniform came out the door at a flat trajectory, an anthro wolf rubbing her hands.

"Ok...and what have we learnt?" she said calmly.

"Pinches are not tips," groaned the jerk.

"Well done. So next time, I'll pinch your fingers right off, understand?" said the wolf woman, who was wearing the same shirt and short combo Silvana preferred as a uniform.

"How long have I been gone?" Silvana muttered to herself.

The wolf noticed her before grumbling, "Oh great. Miss Lyn...I mean, boss. There's a dragon at the door."

Chloe walked out and said, "Oh, Silvana, how was Asia? Are you all enlightened?"

"Yeah, I learnt some really cool magic. Shao-Lao was a true gentle-drake," said Silvana happily, before bowing to the wolf, "Who is our new friend?"

"That's Taelina, former demigoddess of the hunt," said Chloe, "She'll helping you with your shifts."

"Still a demigoddess. The hex comes off when we leave, remember?" said Taelina icily.

"Only if your dad doesn't approve," said Chloe.

"Nice to meet you," said Silvana, shaking Taelina's hand, the wolf looking confused before grabbing the dragon's wrist with both hands.

"She's half robot," said Chloe, "The line tends to blur about which half is which."

Taelina gave Silvana's happy smile a forced one. "We'll get along...fine," she said twitching

"I'm sure we will," said Silvana brightly, "Your uniform looks nice."

"I'd rather be wearing Forsworn armor," said Taelina darkly.

Chloe held up a remote and pressed a button, Taelina's fur standing up as a small collar around her neck crackled. "Mind your manners," said Chloe sweetly.

"I hate this planet already," muttered Taelina.

* * *

And there's the last chapter of this little trilogy. This idea required plenty of rewriting as we had trouble deciding about how Bahfeliz would be pulling off her scheme. This was originally going to be a lot more werewolf-themed, but we just couldn't make up our minds how to do it. We'll be having Taelina as a recurring character for the rest of the story.

Also, Matt's Warwolf is different from what has been seen of the comic character. It ties up to another Marvel fic that me and my co-author are working on but haven't published yet.

We're currently working the next chapters, so it may be a while yet before they're up. In the meantime, keep an eye out for them and please review. Happy Halloween.


	19. Scythe

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 19: Scythe**

Not a lot of people remembered precisely what happened when Bahfeliz cast her spell over Manhattan. Mostly those who weren't affected by the magic. Lady Nega had protected herself from its influence, but she didn't know much of what happened. So she was talking to someone who was out that night.

"For the last time, I DON'T WANNA TALK ABOUT IT!" yelled Manticora, throwing her bed at the doorway, Lady Nega and Falcore ducking down.

"I think she doesn't want to talk about it," he said sarcastically.

"I don't need to hear every detail," said Lady Nega, "I just need to know if you saw anything important."

"Everyone turned into bloody cats except for Matt who turned into a werewolf!" snapped Manticora's voice.

"Matt was a werewolf?" asked Lady Nega.

"So was that stupid doppelganger of mine," snapped Manticora, "Only she was bigger."

"Crap...maybe she finally snapped and bit him," suggested Lady NegaMorph.

"Might be time to check the SHIELD files for updates," said Falcore.

"Urgh...fine. Last thing I need is them getting stronger," Lady Nega muttered.

Getting into the SHIELD database wasn't too much trouble. In fact, the security on the files for Matt's team were so low, it may as well be public access.

"Let's see...upgrades...no...no power changes...new team mate...Taelina...oh crap," she muttered.

"You know her?" asked Falcore.

"I knew her briefly. Not long after she came aboard, Matt sent me out on that fool's errand," said Lady Nega, "But it was more than long enough. If she's here, they just got alot more dangerous."

Falcore said, "Why not give more of us the same upgrade you gave my girlfriend?"

"Because just one of her is more than enough superego," said Lady Nega.

"I've more than proven that I don't have an ego," said Falcore icily.

"Sara didn't have much of an ego either before she got Legendary, and look what happened to her," said Lady Nega.

"So, that being out, I assume you have a plan?" said Falcore.

Manticopra yelled "I am not being upgraded in any way"

"I think we need something more specialized," said Lady Nega, "Something that's specifically designed to take down the Lynches."

"Yes, cause that always works," muttered Falcore.

"Be quiet, I need to think" said Lady Nega, drumming her fingers together.

"I hope this is a better plan then mutating my girlfriend again," said Falcore.

"I said be quiet," snapped Lady Nega. She steepled her fingers together before asking, "When has a dragon gotten close to losing?"

"During your prom when Spider-Woman kicked your butt," sneered Falcore.

Lady Nega glared at Falcore before thinking about it. "Yes, that symbiote did have rather impressive abilities. The only problem is that symbiotes are weak to fire," she said.

"They can be electrocuted too," said Falcore.

"Yes, that's a problem too," said Megan, "Now if only there was something that can absorb that energy."

"Don't look at me. I don't know any energy eaters. Why not ask the freaks who tempted my girlfriend into mutating again?" said Falcore icily.

"Somehow I doubt they'll have any constructive suggestions," said Lady Nega, "They tend to say things like 'work with what we're giving you or we'll tattle on you'."

Falcore paused, "Did...they send anything new?"

"DNA from some newer specimens," said Lady Nega, "Including this...Dragon thing." She showed a hologram of something that looked like a large purple lizard with long feelers on its head, but appeared to be secreting green slime.

goodra

"Ew..." yelped Falcore.

"Yeah, one of the pseudo-legendaries apparently," said Megan, "Not sure what the point of it is though."

"Well, Dragons there are resistant to Fire, Water, and Electricity," said Falcore.

"Yeah but... Wait... Of course, we need to fight dragon with dragon."

Falcore paused before pointing at the hologram, "Surely not that. I mean we're villains but some things are just...cruel."

"Don't be ridiculous," said Lady Nega, "I'm not talking about that kind of dragon, I meant this kind of dragon." She spread out her wings and lifted up her tail with its draconic head on the end.

"Oh...ok...so where we gonna find one of those?" asked Falcore, walking over to the latest supplies from her...alien friends and looking at a vial that had a picture of some sort of flaming falcon thing on it.

"We've got it right here," said Lady Nega, flexing her arm and poking her bicep.

Falcore turned to look, pocketing the serum before saying, "Are you sure you want a clone?"

"Not quite. Just a little DNA will do," said Lady Nega before going to a refrigerated safe and opening it. "This will make up the bulk," she said, taking out a high-tech container, the glass inside showing a writhing red mass with veins of black covering parts of its surface.

"Hey...hey...is that what I think it is?" said Falcore with worry.

"Yep, been saving it for a rainy day," said Lady Nega.

"You're not really going to feed that thing your blood and hope for the best, are you?" asked Falcore.

"I wasn't..." said Lady Nega before looking at it, "You know, maybe we should go to the experts for this."

"Experts?" asked Falcore doubtfully.

"Yeah, as in the genius who made this stuff in the first place," said Lady Nega.

"No, that guy's a fruit loop who sided with Hydra," said Falcore.

"He's also a very brilliant geneticist and expert in nanites," said Lady Nega, "If he can't splice me an anti-dragon symbiote, I don't think anyone can."

"Ok...I suppose that makes sense. There is one problem though," said Falcore.

"That being?" asked Lady Nega in an annoyed tone.

"That there are things living in the Hudson that have more money than us and I doubt he works for charity," said Falcore.

"Well...he's been looking for a sixth for his anti-Spider-Man group for a while. If we shell this as a potential member..." started Lady Nega.

"He will still want money." pointed out Falcore

"Hmm...guess it's time to hit the banks again," said Lady Nega.

"Yes, rob a bank in New York, superhero capital of the world." muttered Falcore, walking out.

"I'll have you know that I've been robbing banks long before I created you," said Lady Nega, "Back when it was just me and...Gary..." Some of her vigor seemed to sputter out like that.

Falcore rolled his eyes, before looking at the vial and muttering, "And when your pet monster goes nuts and tries to kill us, I'll have this."

* * *

Gary had been a little...edgy lately. About half of it was because during the Cat's Eye Moon, he had been practically the only person on the Triskelion who didn't become a cat (being already a weregoyle) and had to keep everyone else from doing anything stupid. The other half was his usual aching for Megan.

Matt walked out a door, spotting Gary. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked, walking over.

"That you sleep in a better bed than I do," growled Gary.

"Look, I'll try and talk to Fury but he's not here half the time...and if he says no I'll insist. You can come stay at the coffee shop. We already have a half-dragon and daedric werewolf staying there, why not a gargoyle too?" said Matt.

"I may be better off on the roof," huffed Gary, "It already sounds like a kennel inside."

"Hey, Taelina only came here to stop Bahfeliz, nothing else. She can't get back till the ship arrives and according to NegaMorph, that's not far either...a month at most," said Matt.

"And I wonder how the situation will have gotten weirder by then," said NegaMorph, appearing out of the shadows. Gary yelped and jumped backwards at that. "You know, that was hilarious the first seven times," said NegaMorph, "But now it's starting to get annoying."

"Then use a door," said Matt, holding up an ominous pair of fingers.

"Oh no," muttered NegaMorph. There was a 'snap' and a 'pop'. "You know, one of these days, you won't be able to do that anymore," growled NegaMorph as he came back together, "And you better have not gotten me angry on that day."

"Then stop teasing Gary. He's got enough on his plate," snapped Matt.

"I'm not even doing it on purpose now," said NegaMorph, "He's always thinking I'm going to bite his head off."

"You literally threatened to do that once," said Matt calmly.

"You had it coming," said NegaMorph.

"Yes...but you don't threaten Gary with head biting cause he's dating your niece with her consent," snapped Matt, clicking his fingers again.

The pop wasn't as big that time. "Keep winding me up, Lynch," growled NegaMorph as he reformed, "You're going to end up with a shorter casket."

"Hey, Gary, you think I can get NegaMorph to hit the statue of liberty?" said Matt.

"Guys, guys, I think we're getting a little wound up," said Gary, "Maybe we should go out and have some drinks."

"This isn't France, Gary," said Matt flatly, "You're still underage for drinking here."

"And when I get drunk, I melt into a puddle. Literally," said NegaMorph.

"Really?" said Matt with an evil grin.

"So what do guys do here for bonding experiences?" asked Gary.

"I dunno. Build a shed?" asked NegaMorph.

"NegaMorph, your grasp of male comradery is extremely fallible," said Matt.

"What do you expect? I'm not even actually male. I just prefer not to be called 'it'," said NegaMorph.

"Ok, boy's night out. Chris is still recovering so it'll just be us three," said Matt.

NegaMorph raised an eyebrow, "What's still wrong with him?"

* * *

"Look, I'm telling you I'm ok..." said Chris.

Taelina said in a bored tone, "Yeah...sure..." before holding up a laser sight, Chris twitching before trying to pounce on the light.

"Yeah...cured," said Chloe with a bored tone.

* * *

"He's...getting there," Matt said.

"So what'll we be doing?" asked NegaMorph.

"How about seeing a movie?" asked Gary.

"What kind of movies do they have here?" asked NegaMorph.

"No superhero films for obvious reasons," said Matt, checking his wristcomp.

"Not unless they do DC films here," said NegaMorph.

"Shh... You wanna get sued?" snapped Matt.

"I'd rather it not be a romance film," said Gary.

"Not even romantic comedy?" asked Matt.

"No...romance..." snarled Gary.

"And for decency's sake, no musicals," said NegaMorph.

"Agreed, musicals will result in violence," said Matt.

"What else?" asked Gary.

"Oh, there's a horror-comedy playing," said Matt cheerfully, "It's even from my home. _Shawn of the Dead_."

"It's not a zombie movie, is it?" asked Gary.

"Erm...yessss..." said Matt carefully.

"I don't really care for zombies. Megan tried to create a small army of them once. We went to a cemetery and-" started Gary.

"They tried to eat you?" said Matt.

Gary shook his head, "No, they formed a union to get her to pay them."

"To quote this modern age, 'pics or it didn't happen'," said NegaMorph.

Gary sighed at that before Matt said, "What about _Hot Fuzz_? Same dark comedy, no zombies."

"What's that supposed to be about? Evil stuffed animals?" asked Gary.

"Not exactly. It's a cop film," said Matt.

"So what's the dark comedy about?" asked Gary.

"It would spoil it if we told you," said NegaMorph.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lady Nega was finding out it was...well just as hard as expected to get in contact with the good doctor.

For obvious reasons, his services weren't openly available. And his old Hydra contacts wouldn't have been any use. Everyone knew that Dr. Otto Octavius had quit Hydra and there was no love lost between them. Not that Lady NegaMorph was foolish enough to reach out to Hydra for information.

"Come on...pick up...this is the last connection," snarled Lady Nega.

Eventually, a quiet though firm voice was heard. "Who is this?" demanded the voice.

"A customer," said Lady NegaMorph, at the end of her tether.

"I don't have time for telemarketers," said the voice.

"I want to hire your services," snapped Lady Nega.

"Do you even know to whom you are speaking?" asked the voice.

"Doctor Otto Octavius, the genius creator of the symbiote," said Lady Nega smoothly.

The voice sounded pleased by this. "Well now. You seem to have gone to great lengths to find this number," said Dr. Octavius.

"I have. My name is Lady NegaMorph. I...experiment in genetic technology like yourself, though not to your level of course. However, some heroes have been...interfering so I'd like to propose a special order. I can provide the materials, and afterwards he'll make a very useful addition to the Sinister Six you're looking to create," said Lady Nega.

"Your proposal has...appeal to it," said Dr. Octavius, "Perhaps we should discuss further in person. However, you must come alone and I say where we shall meet."

"Agreed." said Lady NegaMorph.

* * *

Some time later, Megan was walking towards what remained of a disreputable asylum on Staten Island. She was currently in human form, with a bit more gothic makeup than usual and carrying a large backpack. Most people would assume she was some weird goth girl who was hunting for ghosts.

She walked through the corridors before pausing. "Ok, I'm here. Show yourself," she snapped. There was a very long pause before a door opened and a mechanical tentacle waved at her to come in. Lady Nega sighed at the theatrics before walking in. "I have the sample," she said calmly.

She raised her eyebrows when she saw Doctor Octopus. She had seen plenty of pictures of him as a sickly man with long messy hair and shriveled limbs. But he was definitely in better shape and his hair was in a short bowl cut. Even his tentacles looked more refined. "Wow, you look nothing like your profile pic," said Lady Nega, "You should update it."

"Yes, I've gotten that," said Doc Ock before one of his tentacles opened her backpack and removed the vial. "Hmm...you've made an...adequate start with your limited knowledge," he said to himself, "May I ask where you found this sample of Carnage?"

"After it spread itself over most of Manhattan?" asked Lady Nega, "You should be wondering why there isn't more of it popping up."

"Yes...yes..." muttered Doc Ock, looking at it, "So...who is this symbiote meant to kill?"

"You've heard of those new dragon-based heroes, right?" asked Lady Nega.

"Not for a while," said Doc Ock.

"Well, yeah, some of them haven't been using their dragon powers recently. But they're still around. I want them out of the way. Permanent is good, but temporary works too," said Lady Nega, dropping her human disguise.

"You realize that symbiotes are not effective against every kind of superhero," said Doc Ock, "They are particularly vulnerable to intense heat and electricity."

"Not with the idea I have in mind," said Lady Nega with an evil grin.

"That being?" asked Doctor Octopus.

"You put a little bit of me in there," said Lady NegaMorph.

"Hmm...how would that help other then make my symbiote weaker?" said Doc Ock smugly.

"You haven't heard of what all I can do, have you?" asked Lady Nega.

"I don't keep track of every newcomer in New York," said Doc Ock.

"Stand back then, I need a little room," said Lady NegaMorph as she gathered darkness around her. She let the shadows build up before pushing them back, revealing her anthro dragon form.

"I fail to see how this would help," said Doc Ock calmly, unimpressed.

"Seriously? I'm a four-armed dragoness with shadow powers. Is this even registering for you?" asked Lady NegaMorph, putting her hands on her hips.

"Not really. To quote that annoyance, Tony Stark, they have a Hulk," said Doc Ock, turning to the sample, before one of his claws plucked a scale off her.

"Ouch. That smarts," snapped Lady Nega.

"Science needs sacrifices..." said Doc Ock, looking at the scale before smirking, "This actually could work. You didn't mention you had nanotechnology."

"It's not something I boast about," said Lady Nega, "If I let word spread around, there'd be dozens of mad scientists out for my blood, literally."

"This will work perfectly for what you need," the doctor said calmly.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to watch the process myself," said Lady Nega, "I have been really curious about how this symbiote stuff works."

"Huh...I doubt there are more than 3 people on the planet who would understand my work," said Doc Ock dismissively.

"I can at least watch, right?" asked Lady Nega, one of her eyes twitching a bit, "I mean, it's not like I could replicate this myself because I'm...not smart enough." There was a literal grind to her voice as she said that.

"Fine, just don't get in my way," said Doc Ock, with a dismissive wave.

"I'll just watch from the side like a good little girl," said Lady Nega, one of her hands clawing a wall.

"And don't claw the walls," said Doc Ock, several Octobots hovering down around her.

"Sorry, been dealing with stress lately," said Lady Nega.

"No excuses, just behave. There's also the matter of my fee," said Doc Ock calmly.

"I've thought of that," said Lady NegaMorph. She opened her backpack, which was darker inside than it should have been. She pulled out 8 bars of gold and stacked them up. "Should this cover it?" she asked.

Doc Ock took one, scratching a bit off with his claw and looking closer. "To start..." he said finally.

"Hey, they're real," said Lady Nega.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they were really bricks of mud. That's a standard trick for you magic users, isn't it?" asked Doc Ock snidely.

"They're real. The robbery will be in the news tonight," said Lady NegaMorph calmly.

"Then let's go to one of my labs," said Doc Ock, "This place is rather unsanitary for delicate genetic work."

* * *

Matt's movie night out didn't quite go as planned. Sure he and NegaMorph both enjoyed the movie. Gary, most assuredly, did not.

"He...impaled...his chin...on the church steeple," said Gary weakly.

"He had it coming," said Matt. "That's supposed to make it enjoyable? Everyone 'had it coming'?" snapped Gary.

"It's an action film. The bad guys always have it coming," said Matt.

"There have to be better ways of doing that," said Gary.

"Gary, relax, it's just a movie. Nobody actually got hurt," said NegaMorph.

"Well, I don't have enough of a sadistic streak to consider that movie 'relaxing'," snapped Gary, "I mean, I would expect this from you, NegaMorph. But I thought Matt had higher standards."

"That's why it's called a _black_ comedy," said Matt pointedly, adding, "And I've caught you reading my Judge Dredd comics. They're hardly tame."

Gary rolled his eyes and said, "And they show how society could be worse. Imagine if we ended up in that world."

Matt got a distant look, imagining that world. "Well my hometown got nuked in that soooo..." he muttered gloomily.

"NSC makes a conscious effort to keep out of post-apocalyptic worlds anyways," said NegaMorph, "Empire does too. Not much to use in those worlds that they don't already have."

"Plus I believe Dredd himself has seen off extra dimensional threats before. NSC knows when not to pick a fight," said Matt.

"C'mon, what can one guy do- Hey, look who else is here," said NegaMorph, pointing. Matt looked to see Peter and Mary Jane walk out from one of the theaters, noticeably holding hands.

Gary paused. "Wait...they're a couple?" he said in confusion.

"Yeah, they officially hooked up at the prom," said Matt, "I guess you were too busy with Megan to notice."

"Megan had her prom and I missed it?" asked NegaMorph, sounding actually sad about it.

"Well, it was the junior prom," said Gary, "Maybe she can have her senior prom on the Bladestorm."

Matt paused before picking up Gary and shaking him. "NEVER! EVER!" he roared.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Matt paused and turned to face Peter and MJ.

"Hey guys," said Matt, "Having a nice night out?" His tone was friendly even though he was still holding a dizzy Gary. The two looked to see Matt holding Gary, who's eyes were spinning gently, Matt noticing before putting Gary down.

"Uh, MJ, this is NegaMorph, Lady NegaMorph's uncle," said Peter.

"Charmed," said NegaMorph briefly, slightly doffing his hat.

"Erm...Hi," said MJ carefully.

NegaMorph rolled his eyes. "I know you wanna say it. Everyone calls me it. Just say it and get it out the way," he said in an annoyed tone.

MJ glanced around before whispering, "Why doesn't everyone notice you're an alien?"

"In this town?" said NegaMorph pointedly.

"People see what they want to see," said Matt, "And people here are pretty great at convincing themselves that someone weird is just an odd human. We currently have a werewolf demigoddess and a half-robot dragoness working at the coffee shop who regularly eats people's phones and _nobody_ has noticed."

"In fact, the less human you look, the less likely people will try to think of you," said Gary, "If NegaMorph looked more human, he might get people thing he was a mutant or Inhuman. But like this, people prefer to think he's just a weird little man."

"Yeah, I...HEY!" snapped NegaMorph.

"So what brings you here?" asked Matt smoothly.

"Mostly just trying to get me to relax," said MJ, "I don't know why, but I've been getting the feeling that something is wrong."

"Wrong?" said Gary

"I can't really pinpoint it," said MJ, "I've done all my schoolwork, I haven't forgotten any dates, and so far nothing's big has happened regarding super crime. I just...have this funny feeling."

"Oh? I have those days sometimes. It's probably nothing," said Matt cheerfully.

"Maybe, but-" MJ suddenly winced, clutching at her head. Most alarmingly, her eyes flooded red for a second.

Matt backed up as his HUD flashed the warning for symbiote. "Erm...you ok?" he said, letting his wristcomp put a sonic grenade in the hand he had behind his back.

"My spawn...someone is hurting my spawn..." said MJ, her voice echoing a little.

"Erm...Miss MJ...is this normal?" asked Matt, getting a better grip on the grenade.

"Not for her," said Peter, "But I think I've seen this before."

"When?" said NegaMorph.

Peter pulled out his cellphone and put in a number. "Hey, Flash, have you been noticing anything weird tonight?" asked Peter.

"Naw, man. Everything cool where you are?" said Flash's faint voice over the phone.

"MJ just said something was hurting her spawn," said Peter, "Sound familiar to you?"

"You never did explain how she got infected with a symbiote," said Matt carefully.

"Ok, it's a bit of a long story so I'm just going to give it to you in rapid recap mode," said Peter before taking a deep breath.

"Morbius stole piece of Venom. Doc Ock improves piece. Piece become Carnage. Carnage starts fight. Carnage gets splattered. Carnage spreads over New York. Anti-Venom wakes up. Anti-Venom wants to cure. Led Anti-Venom to Carnage heart. Told Harry I was Spider-Man. Harry uses Anti-Venom to stop Carnage heart. Carnage regathers pieces. Carnage goes to high school. Carnage bonds to MJ. Morbius and Crossbone try to control Carnage Queen. Carnage Queen too strong. Harry, Flash, and I told MJ who we were. MJ takes control of Carnage. Carnage is stopped. Symbiote tamed and makes MJ Spider-Woman."

"She has a symbiote queen..." said Matt calmly.

"Yes, though it hasn't acted like a queen since she got control over it," said Peter.

"Good," said Matt, deactivating his grenade.

"Uh, Pete, did MJ get a piece of her suit stolen?" asked Flash.

"Not that we've noticed," said Peter.

"But we did get all those Carnage spawns, right?" asked Flash.

"God I hope so," muttered Matt to himself.

MJ let out a loud hissing rattle at that. "Uh, maybe we should go somewhere private," said Gary.

"Agreed," said Matt.

* * *

In one of his labs, Doctor Octopus was working on the Carnage spawn. "This specimen has been well-preserved," said Doc Ock, "Most symbiotes without a host don't last very long."

"I was lucky. I found the thing before that white symbiote got to it," said Lady Nega.

"Anti-Venom was a rather unique creation," said Doc Ock, "A shame it was destroyed."

"I have the technology from some benefactors to keep the sample alive without a host," explained Lady Nega.

"This symbiote will still need a host after the splicing procedure," said Doc Ock. With that, one of his tentacles extended out to a centrifuge and pulled out a vial filled with blue liquid.

"I have just the person," smirked Lady Nega.

"That won't be necessary," said Doctor Octopus, "I have someone on reserve who can be a host for this symbiote."

"Oh? Who?" asked Lady Nega.

Doctor Octopus activated a comm and said, "Grim Reaper, I need your presence in the lab."

Lady Nega tensed up. Her and Gary had once had a brief run in with him the year before and it had not been fun. Granted, he wasn't nearly as frightening as his namesake, but Grim Reaper wasn't a very nice person.

"You work with that creep?" said Lady Nega darkly, as the door opened

"You wanted to see me, boss?" asked Grim Reaper, walking in. Apparently, he ditched the hooded cloak Lady Nega last saw him in for a bad imitation of Galactus's helmet.

"He's one of my potential Sinister Six members," said Doctor Octopus, "Though I've been starting to doubt he can make the cut."

"You gotta be kidding. I can make the cut easy," sneered Grim Reaper, slashing out with his scythe arm, a lab computer falling into pieces, Lady Nega and Doc Ock exchanging a look that had alot to say about their views on morons.

"I don't think he'd be a good influence," whispered Lady Nega.

"No, but it will be interesting to see if he survives," said Doc Ock.

Lady Nega paused before saying "Wait, do we care?"

"Now, speaking of influences," said Octavius before holding up the vial of blue liquid, "This contains the distilled essence of your hybrid genetics and the nanite formula inside you."

"Oh...how lovely," said Lady Nega a little scathingly.

"Of course, the nanite formula needed a little tweaking to properly infuse with the symbiote," said Doc Ock, "The details may go over your head."

"You use a tyman stabilizer or bio-quantum interface?" said Lady NegaMorph absently.

Doctor Octopus chuckled and said, "It's cute when they think they know what they're talking about. This is extremely advanced science, not witchcraft."

"Hmm...I assume you included a burn virus to prevent it going into a grey goo," said Lady Nega calmly.

"Well, that is basic nanobot procedure," said Doc Ock.

"Good," said Lady NegaMorph, before the two watched Grim Reaper slash another computer to pieces. "Please let me infect him..." asked Lady NegaMorph.

"Oh, I would be happy to oblige. Now observe," said Doctor Octopus. He inserted the vial into the machine that was currently holding the Carnage spawn. The red and black goo squirmed as the blue serum was sprayed over it. It quivered before the red portions of it deepened in color until it became eggplant purple. "Interesting reaction," said Doctor Octopus.

"Indeed..." said Lady Nega, taking the vial. "Oh Grim Reaper, would you like to try a new energy drink?" she called, muttering to Doc Ock, "I bet you 50 bucks he's stupid enough to fall for it."

"Grim Reaper's blade may be 10 times sharper than his wits, but no one is that stupid," said Doc Ock.

"You've never met Morph," said Lady Nega.

"A new energy drink?" sneered Grim Reaper, snatching the vial and downing the contents.

"Pay up," said Lady Nega with a grin

Doctor Octopus grumbled before handing Lady NegaMorph 50 dollars.

"Hey...that...tasted...funny..." said Grim Reaper, twitching

Just then, purple and black slime started gushing out of Grim Reaper's mouth. He could only let out a gurgling scream before the slime started covering his body. In a matter of moments, Grim Reaper was wearing a new symbiote suit that was mainly eggplant purple with black edges. It had also made his scythe a lot bigger and edgier.

"You do good work," said Lady Nega with an impressed whistle. The symbiote turned to look at them, hissing. "Erm...how do I control it?" asked Lady Nega, turning to see Doc Ock was in some sort of safe room watching. "Oh come on, it was only fifty bucks!" she snapped before the symbiote lunged at her.

* * *

MJ had her symbiote suit on and swinging through New York a little faster before the others could change into their superhero outfits. "Hey, wait up!" called Spider-Man, swinging after Spider-Woman, "I need to invest in a quicker way to change into my costume."

"For God's sake, slow down!" called Matt, him and Gary flying after them. "Ok...when this is over...we go back to Avalar for some refresher training. My shoulderblades hurt," he groaned.

"You might need training. I've been using my wings longer," said Gary.

"Yeah, I also notice you fly slower than me," said Matt, "Assuming you're not just limited to gliding."

"Speed isn't everything," said Gary.

"It is if we want to catch up with Miss Muffet," said Matt.

"You did not just call her 'Miss Muffet'," said NegaMorph in disgust.

"Ah shut it," muttered Matt, flapping some more.

"I have to find it. Must find my spawn. Must save it from-" said Spider-Woman before she suddenly froze in midswing.

The others came to a halt, in Matt's case, hitting one of the jumbotrons before he could. "Ow...ok...why?" he groaned.

"I...I lost it," said Spider-Woman.

"Well, yeah, kinda did lose control," said NegaMorph.

"No, I mean, I can't sense that spawn anymore," said Spider-Woman.

"You mean it's already dead? Good. Our job's done," said Gary.

"I don't think it's dead," said Spider-Woman, "But...it's like it's not a piece of Carnage anymore."

"That...doesn't sound good," said Matt dizzily.

"From past experience, that usually means the symbiote piece is a brand new symbiote now," said Spider-Man.

"Oh goody..." muttered Matt.

"Do you at least have any idea of where that spawn was?" asked NegaMorph.

"A...general idea," said Spider-Woman, "But I don't think finding it will be that easy now."

"Great...a symbiote outbreak," muttered Matt.

"I hope not," said Spider-Man, "But I think I know who we should be looking for. There's only one person I know who can turn a piece of symbiote into an entirely new symbiote."

"Who might that be?" asked Gary, before pausing. "Oh no...not that man," he said in horror.

"Who?" asked NegaMorph.

"The guy who invented symbiotes in the first place," said Spider-Man, "Doctor Octopus."

"Wait, there's a guy called Doctor Octopus?" smirked NegaMorph.

"Don't laugh," said Matt, "Doctor Octopus is Spider-Man's greatest enemy, behind the Green Goblin of course."

"Uh, the Goblin's not really a problem anymore," said Spider-Man.

"Oh, ok, then he's Spider-Man's greatest enemy without competition," said Matt.

NegaMorph frowned before calling up Octavius's rap sheet from SHIELD and whistling in an impressed tone. "Ok, I take it back. I haven't seen this big a rap sheet since my own," he said.

"Well, if Doc Ock's whipping up a brand new symbiote, it'll probably be coming after me soon enough," said Spider-Man.

* * *

"Lab report regarding Symbiote Batch #7. The addition of alien blood has caused some remarkable alterations to the basic symbiote formula. This particular variant appears to have an appetite for, well, dragon-based lifeforms. Additionally, it seems drawn towards elementals. And yet its own darkness-based powers prevent it from getting close to other darkness elementals. Like two south ends of magnets trying to touch. It is quite fascinating."

"Hey, squid man, tell him to get away from me. I've been pinned to this wall for 5 hours," snapped Lady Nega, the repel effect having pinned her against the wall as the symbiote tried to grab her.

"The symbiote also shows an unusual stubborn streak. Though perhaps that may be a holdover from its host. Grim Reaper never was much of a quitter," said Doc Ock.

"OCTAVIUS, THIS STOPPED BEING FUNNY AFTER TEN MINUTES!" screamed Lady Nega.

"Very well. Symbiote, stand down," commanded Doc Ock.

Grim Reaper hissed angrily before backing up, Megan sliding down the wall. "Ok, so it attacks elementals. Do you know a way to make it not attack me?" she said sarcastically.

"I would think that once it figured out it cannot touch another darkness elemental, it would cease," said Doctor Octopus.

"Well apparently this one's a slow learner," said Lady NegaMorph. Grim Reaper hissed at that before Lady Nega said smugly, "That said, I have the perfect target for him."

However, Grim Reaper appeared to be losing interest. Tentacles were extending around his head and writhing, almost like it was smelling the air.

"Hey, eyes over here," snapped Lady Nega.

Just then, the symbiote surged upwards, pulling itself off its host. Grim Reaper crumpled into a heap, looking exhausted and missing his scythe implant.

"Erm...should it have done that?" said Lady Nega with concern.

"It appears Grim Reaper was not an ideal host," said Doc Ock. The symbiote slithered across the ceiling before going into an air vent.

"Hey, come back here! I paid for you!" snapped Lady Nega.

"Then I suggest you move quickly before a hero finds it," said Dr. Octopus.

"This is why nobody comes back for more business," snapped Lady Nega, running out of the room.

"Well, this should be a learning experience," said Doc Ock before two of his Octobots hovered over to him. "Follow them. I want to see how this turns out," he said.

* * *

Deep under the city, Omnirus and his gang had set up a cosy little basecamp. "Boss, this is beyond boring," said Dark Start, setting up a computer.

"Well, we can't check into the Ritz, can we?" asked Omnirus dryly.

"Couldn't we at least steal some food from the Ritz?" said Cyber sulkily.

"You guys aren't picky eaters. You remember that, right?" asked Omnirus.

"Yeah but we draw the line at roast rat and cockroach," said Dark Start.

"Well, I suppose there's an Italian place somewhere above us," said Omnirus.

"Suggest pizza and we mutiny," said Leroy.

"Why would you mutiny over... Oh wait, now I get it," said Omnirus, "Almost walked into that one."

"Ok...almost got the sensors set up," called Cyber, currently in one of his moments of lucidity

Just then, the machine started beeping wildly. "Cyber, did you set the sensors to play minesweeper again?" asked Dark Start before an angry roar was heard.

"Think that was a mole man?" asked Leroy.

"Knowing our luck?" said Omnirus dully.

"Maybe we can have him for lunch," said Cyber, slipping into another mania.

"Just get ready," snapped Omnirus, the beeps getting faster, indicating whatever was coming was getting closer.

Just then, one of the pipes overhead sprang a leak, though the liquid coming out of it was purple and black. "What the hell is that?" snapped Omnirus as the 'liquid' moved around before shooting at Dark Start, shooting down her throat. The 'liquid' soon started flowing over her body.

"Uh oh. I think I know what this is," said Leroy.

"Me too," said Omnirus nervously, before he and Leroy facepalmed as Cyber said "She's turning into licorice?"

Then the 'liquid' finished covering Dark Start and a pair of white eyes and a mouth filled with sharper teeth than normal opened up.

"Erm...Dark Start? I have some nice chocolate," said Omnirus carefully.

Dark Start roared before one slime-covered arm extended into a large jagged scythe blade.

"I don't think she wants chocolate," said Leroy in a dull voice before all three remaining experiments scattered screaming, Omnirus pausing briefly to throw the cocolate bar at Dark Start.

Dark Start roared before running after them. "Why does this always happen to us?" screamed Leroy

"Wait, what am I doing? If that's a symbiote..." said Omnirus before turning into Diamondblast, "Then I just need to burn it off."

"But what about Dark Start?" called Leroy.

"She's fireproof. She can handle it," said Diamondblast before shooting fire at Dark Start.

The symbiote vanished in a flash before appearing behind Diamondlbast at that. "Huh?" asked Diamondblast before the symbiote jumped onto his back. "Hey! Get off!" snapped Diamondblast. Just then, the Omnitrix sent green sparks over his body and zapped the symbiote.

The symbiote gave an ear-piercing squeal before shooting at Dark Start again. "Wha-" started Dark Start before she got slimed again.

"Oh, let's try this again," said Diamondblast, heating up his hands. The symbiote on Dark Start screeched before the black parts of his body turned red, the scythe blade radiating heat. "Hey, that's mine," snapped Diamondblast

Dark Start tilted her head before the red parts suddenly turned blue. "Uh, what is it doing?" asked Leroy. Just then, Dark Start shot several water balls at the experiments.

"What kinda symbiote is this?" snapped Cyber.

"Not any kind I've seen," said Diamondblast. Then the symbiote swung its scythe blade at Diamondblast. There was a loud hiss as it made contact with his hot surface. "Ow!" Diamondblast snapped.

Then the black parts changed to brown. "Uh, what's it doing?" asked Leroy before an earth ball knocked him backwards.

"It's cheating is what it is!" snapped Cyber blasting it in the back with his plasma cannon.

Just then, the shadows grew darker before a female shape emerged from them. "Get away from my new minion!" snapped Lady NegaMorph.

"Oh not you again, is that yours?" snapped Omni, pointing to where Dark Start was trying to eat Cyber.

"Yes and it cost me a lot of money," said Lady NegaMorph.

"Well can you please get it off my associate?" snapped Omnirus.

"Ahem, yes, right," said Lady NegaMorph, "Symbiote, come to me." The symbiote looked over at Lady NegaMorph before giggling insanely.

"You haven't got an actual leash for it, have you?" asked Omnirus.

"It...mostly listens to me," said Lady Nega, the symbiote saying in a hissing voice "No I don't."

"Obey your mistress, symbiote," snapped Lady NegaMorph.

"No, I'm hungry. The metal one won't give me more," snapped the symbiote, hitting the dazed Cyber again before shaking the smashed plasma cannon.

"I said obey!" snapped Lady NegaMorph, making an arm made of shadow reach out for the symbiote. However, the symbiote was pushed back as it got nearer.

"I WANT MORE!" screamed the symbiote.

"You know, I never attack you and your minions when you're not doing anything," said Omnirus, "Haven't you ever heard of professional courtesy?"

"Look, it escaped. I didn't tell it to," snapped Lady Nega, both of them not noticing the symbiote look both ways before silently run for a tunnel.

"It's a symbiote, not a puppy," said Omnirus, "You have to keep a closer eye on them."

"Oh please, it's right there," snapped Lady Nega, both turning to see Leroy.

"She went that way," he said dully.

"And you didn't stop her?" snapped Lady Nega, "That's 8 bars of gold running away!"

Omnirus said, "Like I give a-did you say 8 bars?"

"Yeah, recently stolen from the city's gold depository," said Lady Nega.

"It costs that much for a symbiote?" asked Omnirus.

"It is if you want it customized into the ultimate Shar-Slayer," said Lady Nega.

"Well...getting our help won't be freeee..." said Omnirus smugly.

"Do you think I need your help?" asked Lady NegaMorph disdainfully, "I don't see why I would have to enlist the help of sewer-dwelling squatters."

"Someone's turned hoity-toity," commented Leroy.

"Yeah...Miss 'I'm living in a condemned building'," said Omnirus smugly.

"Still smells better than your dump," said Lady Nega.

"2 gold and we help," said Omnirus.

Lady Nega smirked and said, "Deal." With that, she tossed something to Omnirus, who caught it. Looking in his hand, he only saw two gold coins. "I meant-" he started.

"Deal's sealed. No backsies," said Lady Nega. A blast of energy singed the top of her head, Lady Nega turning to look at Cyber, who was grinning insanely, his eye twitching. "Fine," she said dully, tossing a small bag out at their feet.

"Now then, where is that symbiote taking Dark Start?" asked Omnirus, snatching up the bag.

"To the nearest elemental or dragon," said Lady Nega.

Omnirus nodded before he said, "So...made a bioweapon to go after Lynch, eh?"

"If you don't keep up in an arms race, you get gunned down," said Lady Nega, "You of all people should know that."

"Ok...are you INSANE?" snapped Omnirus, "You do know Matt's killed worse than a sentient goop? He'll go nuclear."

"Matt has access to considerable werewolf magic," said Lady Nega, "Heck, his sister is currently a gamma-powered werewolf packing lightning powers. And you know it's only a matter of time before Kala gets her fire burning again."

"So...you decided to piss him off so he'd go after you?" said Cyber, currently going back through lucidity as his sanity see-sawed back towards madness.

"It...it would get him first..." said Lady Nega, sounding less convinced.

"Cyber, what did Matt do to the last symbiote to attack him?" asked Omnirus.

Cyber giggled before saying, "Blew him up good."

"Well, this one's specifically designed to attack Shars," said Lady Nega.

"And have you been able to test that properly?" asked Omnirus.

"Well...no...it's probably more likely to go after Chloe or...Kala..." said Lady Nega before starting to gnaw on her claws as her imagination tuned into the 'terror channel'.

"Yeah...were you particularly angry when you thought of this? Your minions try to say it was a bad idea?" said Omni.

"Uh...well..." started Lady Nega.

"That said, I do wonder what either of them would look like wearing that symbiote," said Leroy. Cyber cackled before making an hourglass gesture with his hands.

"Closely followed by what Matt would do to whoever unleashed it," said Leroy, joining in on the fun.

"OH GOD I'M DEAD!" screamed Lady Nega, covering her face with both hands in an exasperated tone.

"Well, it's not like Matt is that powerful right now," said Leroy. Lady Nega just whimpered.

* * *

"I told you that Lazard would turn on us someday," said J. Jonah Jameson on a jumbotron over looking a flaming city as Matt as a giant dragon stomped about. "Now he's wrecking up the whole city as Lazilla. Wait a minute, who came up with that name? They're fired!" JJJ's rant was cut short when Matt took that jumbotron and a billboard and sandwiched Megan between them. Then he lifted her up to his mouth...

* * *

"I WILL NOT BE A SANDWICH!" screamed Lady Nega, the experiments jumping back, before she grabbed Omnirus and lifted him up eye to eye. "I know spells that will trap you as your female form forever. Help me or I'LL TELL MATT YOU HELPED ME!" she screamed

"Do I keep the gold?" asked Omnirus.

Lady NegaMorph twitched before taking out another bag and shoving it in Omnirus's mouth. "If at a es?" Omnirus asked.

"So which way did she go?" asked Leroy. Cyber leaned down and sniffed the floor of the sewer. He recoiled in disgust immediately before taping over his nose.

Leroy said, "Erm...and I really hate being the voice of reason here, why not shadow Matt and his pals and wait for it to attack him?"

Lady Nega picked up Leroy and shook him violently. "I'm trying to catch this thing before Matt notices and tried to eat me!" she shrieked.

Just then, several foil-wrapped burritos fell down. "I knew you were holding out on us!" snapped Cyber.

Omnirus twitched before spitting the gold bag out, "GET HIM!"

Lady Nega stared as the experiments began fighting before summoning a scroll. "I leave all my possessions to Gary..." she began writing.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kala was not in a good mood. Considering she's being benched until she got her firepower back, there wasn't much she could do. And she didn't want to sleep under the same roof as Taelina.

Matt, on her phone, was saying, "Honey, it's not a big deal. Come on. Taelina's not my sorta girl."

"She's not pleasant company in any case," snapped Kala, "She's always talking about her superiority, she's always making snide comments about me, and she stinks up the bunker as well."

"And she's powerless. It's all bluster," reminded Matt.

"Well I don't like how she's rubbing in that I'm still 'second best'," snapped Kala.

"Well you're not second best to me and neither will she when I have her clean out the restrooms tomorrow. It's meatloaf night," said Matt with an evil cackle.

"Local meatloaf, right?" asked Kala with a hint of worry.

"Yeah, I'm not that evil," said Matt before the line clicked and went dead.

"Matt? Hello?" asked Kala. The light flickered at that, before going out, Kala moving and grabbing the blaster under her pillow. There was an unavoidable feeling of unease. Whoever or whatever was able to get in here wasn't some simple prowler.

A crash came from the next room, Kala turning to face it before peering into said room to see a smashed vent cover, and jumping as a scuttling noise was heard. Kala gulped, wishing she still had her night vision. Wait, didn't she still had night vision? She closed her eyes before, opening two green glowing eyes in time to see something speed behind the sofa...before she blasted it in half.

Kala looked at the ruined sofa and said, "That's the third sofa since we've come here. Including the one that was here when we came." There was nothing behind the remains of said sofa to what looked like an oil patch. "Ok, better call Matt now," said Kala as she got out her cell phone.

"Connecting," said the voice on the phone, as another scuttle was heard.

"Kala?" said Matt finally.

"Matt, I think we have a pest problem back at the bunker," said Kala.

"What are you talking about? Hold on. It's just a power cut. Maybe some meatloaf escaped," said Matt.

"Don't even joke about that," said Kala with a shudder.

"Ok...ok...I'm heading back. Gary, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman can keep looking," said Matt soothingly.

"Looking for what?" asked Kala.

"It's fine. I'm on my way. Should be a saferoom down the corridor. Head there, seal the door," said Matt.

"Matt, what am I dealing with?" demanded Kala.

"Look, we may be tracking a-" began Matt before something shot the phone out her hands and pinned it to the wall.

Kala immediately started shooting her blaster around the room. There was a slithering noise before something fell with a thud.

Kala spun around, spotting something on the ground, something much more solid than a puddle. She walked forward carefully before pausing in shock. "Dark Start?" she said in shock, the small experiment groaning weakly. Kala knelt down by Dark Start and asked, "What happened to you? How did you get here?"

"It's...it's...in...room..." managed Dark Start.

"Oh, that's comforting," said Kala dryly.

Dark Start shook her head before saying, "Least there's one thing here that wasn't last time."

"Since when were you ever in here?" asked Kala.

"I didn't come here by choice," said Dark Start, looking up and yelping before vanishing into a portal.

"Since when did she have a portal generator?" asked Kala. She then realised something had scared her before looking up in time for a shadow to fall on her.

* * *

To say Matt was anxious to get back home would be an understatement. Besides, since Spider-Woman lost the 'signal', their search has been directionless.

"Kala! KALA!" he called, running through the corridors, pausing briefly to grab a sonic blaster from an armory.

"Matt, I'm in here," called Kala's voice. Matt ran over to the door, kicking it open before panning his blaster around. "Matt, relax, everything's fine," said Kala's voice. Matt paused before flicking on the lights.

Kala was sat on what was left of the sofa,. looking a little shellshocked. "Honey, when you were cut off..." Matt began.

"They have...obscenely big rats in New York," said Kala, "Either something's been leaking into the sewers or they have very questionable parentage."

"Computer, what came into this room?" snapped Matt.

The base computer beeped, "Unable to comply...black box footage deleted."

"I don't think rats are smart enough to do that," said Matt.

"Unless they're not normal rats," said Kala with a shudder.

"Are you sure you're ok?" asked Matt with concern.

"It could be worse," said Kala, jokingly, "It could have been centipedes."

Matt shuddered. "Agreed, I was terrified. MJ lost one of her symbiote buddies," he said.

"Symbiote buddies?" asked Kala.

"Yeah, her symbiote was a queen," said Matt, "As in a hive queen."

"They have queens?" said Kala in confusion.

Matt nodded, "Only saw one once. It took out half an assault team in ten seconds."

"And you sure she's got hers under control?" asked Kala.

"Well, with a name like 'Carnage', I would be right to doubt," said Matt, "But MJ seems to have hers under control. It's one of her spawns that might be trouble now."

"Great, symbiote on the loose," sighed Kala, shaking her head, "I don't think it was that...it was...so fast...everything was a blur."

"Well, we're keeping our security on for the rest of the night," said Matt.

"Agreed" shuddered Kala.

* * *

Kala woke up with a scream before checking the clock. It had just been a few hours. She reminded herself that Matt had indeed left security on.

Well, it was morning now. Time to get up and start the day. Going to her closet, she frowned at her clothes. They seemed too brightly-colored. For some reason, she was in the mood for darker colors.

"Please state selection," asked the computer calmly.

"Oh yeah. Forgot this was a synthesizing closet," said Kala. She thought it over. She was tempted to materialize herself some leather pants and a matching jacket. No, make that booty shorts and long leather boots. But there was trying on something different and there was going too edgy.

"Please make selection," reminded the computer.

"Ok, purple t-shirt," said Kala, "No, wait, make that crop top."

"Please make up your mind," said the computer a little sassily.

"Fine, blue jeans, tight blue jeans, and boots," said Kala, "Not too high, either up the legs or at the heels."

"If you insist." said the computer, the requested clothes materializing.

Kala put on her clothes and looked at herself in the mirror. She rubbed her chin and said, "I feel like wearing a little makeup today."

"No makeup on file," said the computer.

"Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," said Kala, "Guess this is something a girl's got to do herself."

* * *

Chloe yawned, walking towards her room. Thank God it was Sunday, meaning the cover shop was closed up. She was looking forward to some nice relaxation...so it was a bit of a shock to see her door half-open.

She sighed, sliding the door open and calling, "Gee I hope I don't have to tear some intruder limb from limb." She believed in giving people a chance to surrender or at least run away.

Her sharp ears heard the sound of someone rummaging around in her bathroom. "Ok..." she snarled, stomping towards the bathroom and throwing the door open...to find Kala going through her room's makeup kit. "Kala?" she said in shock.

"Chloe, you think I should go with the blue eyeshadow?" asked Kala, "I think that would clash too much with my hair."

Chloe blinked, her brain stalling. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" she said in confusion.

"Well, red eyeshadow would just make me look crazy," said Kala, "Oh, purple, that would work nicely."

"Yes, cause normal people wear purple eyeshadow," said Chloe sarcastically.

"Well, they do," said Kala, "Should go with the mascara today? Nah, the eyeshadow's fine enough."

Chloe paused before saying "One second." before walking over to the computer monitor in her room. "Did the base drop into some bizzaro dimension?" she asked.

The computer said, "No."

Chloe nodded before walking back to Kala. "Put down the makeup...or I will turn you into a fine paste. I'm far beyond being in the mood," she said calmly.

"Ok, ok, I'll buy my own makeup later," said Kala in annoyance.

"Kala...are you feeling ok?" asked Chloe, noticing the clothing Kala was wearing.

"Felt like trying something different today," said Kala.

"Erm...it's just that..." began Chloe, trying to find a tasteful description.

"What? It's not like I'm going full punk," said Kala.

"Has Matt not been giving you enough attention again?" asked Chloe.

"No, I'm fine," snapped Kala.

"Right..." said Chloe, already compiling a list of what's wrong for later.

"Now can I borrow your makeup or not?" snapped Kala.

Chloe paused. "Erm...no...get the hell out," she said.

"But-" started Kala.

"No! Borrow someone else's makeup!" snapped Chloe.

"But no one else wears makeup," protested Kala, "Unless you count Taelina."

"That's not makeup, that's war paint," said Chloe.

"What's the difference?" asked Kala dryly.

Chloe got a creepy grin. "Funny girl," she said, before grabbing Kala and throwing her into the corridor. Chloe closed the door and said, "I probably ought to tell Matt something is off with Kala." She glanced at her makeup kit before muttering, "And later, I'm going to get new shades. I don't know what I was thinking before."

* * *

Matt was drinking some coffee when he heard Kala. "Hey, honey," he said without turning "There's a fresh pot," pointing to the coffee jug.

"Ah, nice and hot," said Kala's voice before Matt heard extending gulping.

Matt turned to see her drinking the coffee...straight out the pot...the hot pot. "KALA!" he snapped, getting up and swatting the pot out her hand in a panic.

"I wasn't finished," protested Kala.

Matt however was checking her hand for burns. "Are you ok? Your hand should be charbroiled," he said in a panic.

"Oh it was not that hot," said Kala.

Matt raised an eyebrow and pointed to where the pot was still steaming.

"Aren't you more concerned that I was drinking that?" asked Kala.

"Yes, I'm more surprised you're still speaking and aren't rasping," said Matt a little annoyed, "What were you thinking?"

"I was thirsty," said Kala.

"You nearly got your throat roasted. What's gotten into you?" snapped Matt.

"And you notice nothing else?" snapped Kala.

"I do notice you're taking a new look today. I thought checking you for injuries might be a higher priority," said Matt sarcastically.

"Oh, thanks for noticing," said Kala sweetly, "Usually, it takes a much bolder look for you to even notice."

Matt raised an eyebrow again, "I thought we were over the Berk incident."

"Emotional scars don't fade quickly," said Kala.

"Yes but there's a point when it turns into an obsession. Also why are you dressed like date night?" said Matt.

"Felt like trying on a new look," said Kala before saying coyly, "Do you want to make tonight date night?"

"Kala...are you really feeling ok? Maybe you're still in shock?" said Matt with concern.

"Shock? No, I'm fine," said Kala, "If anything, I'm a little chilly."

"Then maybe you should be wearing a bigger shirt," said Matt dryly. Kala frowned at that, Matt saying, "Look, just let the medicomp take a look at you, ok?"

"No medicomp," snapped Kala before clearing her throat, "I'm fine, really. I just need to get warmer."

"Then go put on something other then that...swimsuit of a shirt," said Matt sternly

"Fine, I'll put on a jacket," said Kala before walking out.

"Fine," said Matt before calling after her, "Not a leather jacket!"

"How did you know?" called Kala.

"I just had a hunch," said Matt.

Taelina detached herself from the shadows. "She smells wrong. You know it. I know it," she said smugly.

Matt jumped and snapped, "How long were you there?"

Taelina chuckled. "I earnt my title as huntress," she said smugly.

"Shouldn't you be in a cell or something?" asked Matt in annoyance.

"You don't have the resources here to cage me," said Taelina smugly.

"Fine, what's off about Kala then?" Matt growled.

Taelina said, "Her scent's all wrong. She's not Kala...not completely."

"That's not adding up," said Matt.

"If you bothered to practise, you'd have spotted it already," snapped Taelina.

"There's a perfectly rational explanation for all this," said Matt.

"Yes...that is that something is possessing your mate and she needs to be in a cell," said Taelina.

"No, it's clear...that Kala's finally getting her fire powers rekindled," said Matt.

"What?" asked Taelina flatly. "Yes, that would explain her chilliness and her being able to drink scalding hot coffee. She'll be shooting flames any minute now," said Matt.

Taelina said blankly, "You're kidding. Nobody's this blind."

"It's an elemental thing. You wouldn't understand," said Matt.

"No, it''s a stupid male thing. I give up. Don't come crying to me when she wears your pelt as a cloak," snapped Taelina.

Matt barely looked as Taelina stormed out. "No wonder we never worked out," he muttered.

Taelina yelled, "You're going to get eaten, you moron!"

"Mind your own business!" yelled Matt. He sighed and went to the computer. "Do a mediscan on Kala please," he requested.

The computer said calmly, "Miss Triseptus is no longer on the premises."

"Great. I better keep an eye on her," sighed Matt.

"Locating...waypoint provided," said the computer.

* * *

"You know, I get you're worried about your girlfriend. And it's sweet that you're concerned," said MJ before yawning, "But I haven't gotten much sleep last night."

"She's acting very weird," said Matt. He'd decided to go to the one expert on symbiotes he knew, "She's acting like it's Goth Day...oh and she was able to drink coffee...from the jug without needing burn therapy after."

"Well, she used to be an alien, right?" asked Peter before stifling a yawn.

"Yes...but she also didn't go into warp speed psychosis mode like an experiment should," said Matt.

"Say what?" asked Peter.

"Experiments react...very strongly to coffee," said Matt, "Particularly when it's black as can be."

"They get high of coffee?" said MJ in a disbelieving voice.

Matt frowned before walking over to MJ's computer. "Here's some security footage of when Morph and Draco got into the coffee," he said, before pressing play.

The two of them watched as Draco laughed maniacally before ripped off a chunk of the wall and taking a bite out of it. "Uh...where's Morph?" asked Peter.

"You notice that blurring motion?" asked Matt.

"Yeah?" said MJ.

"Let me slow it down," said Matt.

The footage slowed down to see Morph with an expression of contented bliss, walking through the suddenly slo-mo chaos.

"Does...Kala act that way even when she's human?" asked MJ.

"We don't speak of the 'incident'," said Matt in an ominous tone.

"So, Kala's dressing darker, she drank scalding hot coffee, and she didn't get completely wired," said Peter, "Sorry, Matt, but I don't see how any of this has anything to do with symbiotes."

"I had one of those little ink blots chase me for a year. I am not letting one use my girlfriend as a body!" snapped Matt, slamming his hand into the wall and leaving a sizable dent.

"So what made you sure that this is a symbiote and not her elemental side waking up?" asked MJ.

"Easy. No fire elemental would dress darkly," said Matt, "So...are you going to help me or not?"

"Well, I'd like to help Kala, but you need more solid proof that it's a symbiote," said Peter.

Matt's eye twitched and he began snarling.

"Wrong thing to say?" asked Peter.

"I...am not...taking...the chance," managed Matt through gritted teeth.

"Look, there could be other explanations," said Peter.

"Such as?" snapped Matt.

"I dunno. Maybe Kala and Lady Nega swapped bodies," said Peter.

"No, her eyes woulda been wrong. You can't change the eyes," said Matt.

"I think what Peter is trying to say is that you don't really know if it's a symbiote causing her change in behavior," said MJ, "You need a way to prove that."

"As said, do normal people drink scalding hot coffee and not need time in a medical bay?" said Matt.

"Don't symbiotes avoid intense heat?" asked Peter.

"Normal ones, I had to fight one that could only merge with technology," said Matt.

"That's...pretty far out of the ordinary," said Peter. "I'm pretty sure 'ordinary' is something symbiotes can learn to get around," said Matt, "But you want solid evidence? Fine. I'll draw it out into the open. You two be ready when it comes out."

* * *

Matt peered out from an alley behind Kala, before ducking back. "Ok...going for more coffee," he muttered, peering out again to see her going into a cafe with 'open mic' advertised. "Hmm...that presents an opportunity," said Matt, "Hopefully more than just another 'disturbing the peace' ticket." He walked up before heading into the cafe. "Ok, no matter how much they try to make me, no singing," he muttered to himself, looking around for Kala.

He soon saw her at the counter, ordering a few slices of a very chocolatey cake. "Oh God, coconut cake," Matt muttered, sitting at a table to watch, ready to move if she went nutty from it.

Thought from this distance, it didn't look like it had much coconut in it. It looked more like triple chocolate.

"Sugar rush city," muttered Matt darkly, readying his blaster. Kala seemed to be really enjoying that cake, if her happy moans were anything to judge by. "Ok...enjoying that too much," he muttered, heading for her table.

"Matt, what brings you here?" asked Kala.

"Thought I'd pop in for a drink and wouldn't you know it, you're here," said Matt cheerfully.

"Some coincidence," said Kala, clearly not believing it.

"Just that...you feeling better?" said Matt, looking down at the chocolate cake slice remaining. "Low blood sugar?" he joked.

"I've got a big craving," said Kala, "I think I'm getting closer to getting a fire lit."

"May I have a bit?" asked Matt, reaching for the slice, only for his wrist to be grabbed.

"You can't handle it," said Kala sweetly.

"It's chocolate cake, not hard drugs," said Matt dully, trying to pull his hand free.

"Of the two of us, you're the one who has to watch his blood sugar," said Kala, "Besides, I think it's too rich for you."

"My medical nanites see to that and you know it. What's got into you? You're acting like just after the...Night Fury thing," said Matt.

"I thought we agreed not to talk about that," said Kala.

"I thought we were over it. You're worrying me, ever since that intruder thing almost got you," said Matt.

"It was just a big rat," said Kala, "Which is enough to freak out anyone."

"Kala, that's just silly," Matt said.

"You didn't see it," said Kala, shuddering.

"So tell me what it was. I know you aren't scared of rats, no matter how big they are," Matt snapped, a few other cafe goers looking at them.

"Isn't a giant rat enough to trigger anyone's primal fear?" asked Kala.

"Look, it's not Jim's fault he pissed off some Mysticonian mage while on shore leave," said Matt.

"What?" asked Kala in confusion.

"Long story, but come on," said Matt, before Kala smirked.

"Are you sure you wouldn't want some dessert?" asked Kala before shoving the cake into Matt's face.

Matt blinked, clearing some of it off before saying in a level tone, "Ok...you're coming back to the shop for a checkup."

"I don't have to go anywhere I don't want to," said Kala.

"Kala, you aren't well...are those black streaks in your hair?" said Matt, finally noticing.

"I've done some highlights," said Kala.

"Pretty sure black isn't a highlight," said Matt.

"What would you know, you freak?" snapped Kala, Matt staring in shock

"Ok, that tears it," said Matt, "We are checking you for parasites."

"Like hell!" snapped Kala, pushing Matt back. "I have no idea what I ever saw in you!" she snapped angrily, Matt noticing she was melting the parts of the table she was holding before pushing her hands off, leaving glowing red handprints in the table.

Matt grabbed someone's ice mocha, quickly said, "I'll buy you a new one," before throwing it at Kala.

Kala stared in shock as she was drenched. "You...did not..." she snarled, Matt noticing her teeth looked a little more predatory than usual.

Then someone near the door screamed, before Megan's voice was heard "THE FIRST PERSON TO SCREAM 'DEMON' GETS KNEECAPPED! I AM NOT IN THE MOOD."

"Megan, I don't have time to deal with you right now!" called Matt.

"On the contrary," said another voice before a huge amount of slime hit Matt, "_We_ don't have time to deal with you right now."

Matt twitched, "You...jerrrrr" he managed before the smell made him faint.

Stinkgrade looked at Kala and said, "It went to her? I would have thought it would pick the host who could become a dragon."

"It's after elemental cores. She must have been closest," snapped Lady Nega, the group letting everyone flee, though she fired a fang into the phone as a member of staff tried to use it to call the cops.

"Yeah, but she hasn't gotten her fire back," said Stinkgrade.

"It will have been rekindling her elemental core, most likely through the consumption of hot foods and beverages as well as anything with sugar for fuel," said Lady Nega.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" snapped Kala.

"You're not the important one here, your symbiote is," said Lady Nega.

"I don't have a symbiote," snapped Kala, her hands starting to glow.

"You don't have to lie to me. I created you. Well, commissioned you anyways," said Lady Nega.

"Get away...I am sick of...of..." began Kala, looking like she was about to be sick.

"Too much chocolate cake, I bet," said Stinkgrade.

"Nope," said Lady Nega, as Kala's teeth began to lengthen into needle sharp long ones, black liquid flowing over her.

"You do have a plan to catch this thing, right?" asked Stinkgrade.

Lady Nega grinned, holding up a remote. "That's why I threw this together." before noticing the experiments were staring wide-eyed

Lady Nega turned to look at Kala. The symbiote had already spread over her, creating a skintight purple and black suit, though the black parts were flickering red. The symbiote didn't look threatening yet, though Lady Nega had forgotten how well-built Kala's body was.

Lady Nega sighed as Kala's form got more pronounced. "Why do they do that? Roll your tongues back in and get her," she snapped at the experiments. Lady Nega turn to the symbiote and said, "Some of that has to be padding. I know you can add more mass if you want to."

"Besssst potentiaaaal in DNA," the symbiote hissed evilly before trying to lunge at Lady NegaMorph, who pressed the remote, the symbiote hissing.

"Yeah, you don't think I'd have a symbiote created for me without something to keep it back, did you?" asked Lady NegaMorph, "I mean, I know you literally can't touch me, but I'm not taking the chance."

"You will not command me...my host is angry at you...soooo much delicious anger..." hissed the symbiote.

"She doesn't get a say in this," said Lady Nega, "You work for me now."

"Work for NOBODY!" hissed the symbiote, the scythe growing out her arm.

"Hah, what are you gonna do with that?" laughed Stinkgrade before the symbiote slashed out, sending a fiery energy wave into the group.

The symbiote panted as the black parts turned bright red, flames licking up and down its female body. "Something's lighting my fire," it purred in an oddly seductive voice.

Lady NegaMorph sat up. "Not a chance," she said before she pressed the remote, only for it to collapse to ash, the symbiote grinning evilly. "Oh nuts," she muttered.

* * *

Spider-Man and Spider-Woman had just arrived to where the café was. "I hope Matt didn't do something stupid already," said Spider-Man.

The two landed in time to see the door demolished, Lady Nega thrown across the street, followed by Omnirus and his gang, insane laughter heard before a female...yes, very female symbiote appeared in the doorway, something over her shoulder.

"I landed in a garbage truck," said Omnirus dizzily.

"It still smells better than Stinkgrade," said Leroy happily.

"Ah...shut up the lot of you," groaned Lady NegaMorph as the two spiders landed in front of the symbiote.

"Uh, Kala, I know you're in there," said Spider-Man, "You can fight the symbiote."

"I don't want to fight it," laughed the symbiote.

"Kala, listen, I know the symbiote gives you a lot of power, but it takes away your will. It will make you want to hurt those you care about," said Spider-Woman.

"I'm in control...AND YOU'RE IN OUR WAY!" snapped Kala, sending another energy wave that the spiders dodged, Lady Nega sticking her head out the truck in time to see the wave incoming.

"Oh blitznak," she muttered before she and the experiments were blasted off Team Rocket style.

"Wow, Kala's definitely got her fire back," said Spider-Man.

"I hope you've been able to improve that fire-retardant web fluid," said Spider-Woman before stretching out a club-ended arm and hitting Kala.

The figure she was holding hit the ground, revealing it was Matt, covered in a vile-smelling goop. "Ooooowwww," he grumbled, Kala turning to him before running over.

"You see? It's already making you want to hurt Matt," said Spider-Woman.

"Oh, I don't want to hurt him," said Kala, "I have bigger plans for him."

Spider-Woman's eyes widened. "NO!" she snapped, Kala laughing insanely before sending a stream of flame in response. Spider-Woman's symbiote jumped backwards out of instinct. "Wait, we can't let her get away," said Spider-Woman.

"I'm on it," said Spider-Man, spraying out thick webs over the flames.

Kala laughed, before noticing a fuel tanker, sending several spines into it. "BARBEQUE!" she called, sending a spark at the leaking oil.

"Oh great," groaned Spider-Man before working on dousing the fires.

Kala grinned, grabbing Matt. "Don't worry, honey, you'll feel so much better soon," before she and Matt vanished in a burst of flame.

* * *

Matt groaned as he started coming. He felt really lightheaded. Actually, no, heavy-headed, like all the blood was in his head. It took him a few seconds to realize he was upside-down, a few more seconds to see he was strung up with purple slime.

"Oh for God's sake," he mumbled gloomily, "Hello? If it's you, Splicer, I'll have you know I'm alot more indigestible now." Matt twisted around as much as he could to see where he was, though it was a bit hard to be sure since everything was upside-down to him.

"Silent treatment is not helping!" he called before he felt a familiar hug around his neck from behind. "Kala...oh thank God..." he said, before he was turned to see a symbiote face grinning at him, tongue out. Matt blinked, before screaming.

The symbiote pressed one fingertip to Matt's lips. "Ah, ah, none of that. There's no reason to scream here. It's only the two of us. Three if you want to be technical," said the symbiote in a soothing voice, one that Matt recognized.

"K...Kala? I fucking knew it. Honey, you need to fight that thing. My brain's so messed up I'll probably give you food poisoning. But I know the code to the cocoa powder back at base," Matt gibbered.

"Relax, dear. I don't intend to eat you," said the symbiote. She extended a long tongue that slid across Matt's face and neck in what was probably meant to be an affectionate gesture.

Matt shuddered. "Nooo...so many future nightmares..." he whimpered.

The symbiote sucked her tongue back and said, "The look on your face says 'no', but the color says 'yes'."

"That's cause I'm upside down and the blood IS IN MY HEAD!" snapped Matt, inching his fingers under the goop towards his ion staff.

"Well, I don't need your blood in there," said the symbiote. She grabbed Matt and plucked him off the ceiling like a ripe fruit. She set him on the ground, though still bound in slime. "Is that a better viewpoint?" she asked.

"Ow...brain ache..." grumbled Matt before finally getting a good look at her figure. "Bad symbiote, Kala didn't need a makeover. Though I admit, it's a good job...wait, why am I complimenting a sentient slimeball?" he snapped, finally grabbing his ion staff, the blade shooting out the slime covering him, burning it off and Matt rolling back, ion blade in a defence stance.

"Oh, you don't want to hurt little old me," said the symbiote coyly.

"I can skin you off Kala easier than you think," snapped Matt.

"And hurt me?" said 'Kala' smugly.

Matt lifted up a blue-striped grenade. "Sonic grenade, leftover from my symbiote killing days. Kills blobs and leave hosts standing, Miss..." he said.

'Kala' smirked, "We are called...Sear in this hosty."

"Sear? You sure that name hasn't already been used?" asked Matt.

"We checked," said Sear, "And we can back up the name." The red parts of the symbiote flared brighter as flames danced along her form.

"Ok, that's wrong. You shoulda been crispy," Matt said, backing up, adding, "And you should be scared of this." He held up his sonic grenade.

Sear sent a blast of fire that knocked the grenade back. "We are a unique symbiote," she said before frowning, "Unfortunately, the one who created us wanted us to stay unique."

"GET OFF MY GIRLFRIEND!" roared Matt, shifting to anthro form and sending a plasma ball at her.

Sear leaped over the plasma ball and said, "Unlike other symbiotes, we cannot spread to others, cannot make more of ourselves, not unless our creator wants us to."

"Oh thank God," said Matt with relief,

Then Sear said with an evil grin, "Well...at least when our creator replaces that remote."

"Well, one of you is more than enough. I doubt anyone will want to make you spawn more," said Matt.

"Settle down," said Sear before shooting fire at Matt, "Can't have you wasting all your strength."

"GET OFF KALA!" screamed Matt, Sear snarling and punching him in the chest before pinning him against the wall.

"Fine...if you want it like that..." before she kissed him, slime spreading over Matt from the point of contact. Matt made muffled yells and tried to struggle, but the symbiote was spread quickly over him. Meanwhile, Kala's body was becoming more exposed as the symbiote left her.

Kala finally let go, her eyes refocusing before she screamed, falling back as the now blue-highlighted symbiote stretched. "Now...this is better," he said smugly before noticing Kala. "Yes, much easier to work with. You are weaker without me, even weaker than Matt is normally. You will be easy to dominate," said the symbiote sinisterly.

Kala pushed herself back. "Get away!" she screamed, before she paused. "You were in my head...you used me to...oh God, bushi-bu!" she said in horror.

The symbiote grinned, igniting a plasma flame and extinguishing it. "He is definitely stronger," he sneered before looking at Kala properly. "What to do with you...food or host? This one's core should be enough for just one till I get round this gene lock," he sneered, advancing.

"I said get away!" screamed Kala before her hands lit up with flames.

"Really? I can ignite blue fire in my claws, and I absorbed your own fire immunity, and you'd think there would be a little thanks for the improvement to your DNA," said the symbiote scathingly.

"Get back!" yelled Kala, shooting a more concussive blast of fire.

The symbiote blinked after the fire stopped, shaking the soot off before he muttered to himself darkly, "At least my current host knew good work when he saw it." The symbiote squinted as Kala's fire flared up more. "You might want to turn it down," said the symbiote, "You're going to burn the place down."

"I'll be fine and you'll be roasted!" snapped Kala, the symbiote sighing before smirking. "Hmm...just...enough..." he said thoughtfully, a small sphere forming out of the goop in his hand, Kala pausing as she spotted it. "It's just a small seed. It needs fertile soil," said the symbiote.

"Not a chance!" snapped Kala, before the symbiote shot a tentacle out his arm, grabbing and pulling her close.

"I preferred Sear anyway," he said, shoving the sphere down her throat.

* * *

"I told that moron Kala was not the one he knew," snapped Taelina, the group having been told about what had happened at the cafe.

"In his defense, this is a very atypical symbiote," said Spider-Man.

"I smelt it the second I saw her. He should have locked her away before that creature manifested!" snapped Taelina angrily.

"I had my suspicions too," said Chloe, "The way she was getting into my makeup."

Taelina turned slowly to look at Spider-Woman, before grabbing a kitchen knife and throwing it, the blade in the wall next to Spider-Woman's head. "Another one..." she snarled, grabbing another knife before Chris and Chloe grabbed her.

"She's got hers under control," snapped Chloe.

"Lies! You cannot trust parasites!" snarled Taelina before Chris punched her.

"She has more self-control than you do," snapped Chloe.

"I trusted Lynch and now he is in the clutches of the parasite!" snapped Taelina.

"Well until Matt's back, I'm in charge here," snapped Chloe.

"You in charge?" asked Taelina mockingly.

"Do we need to have another dominance asserting lesson?" growled Chloe, her eyes glowing yellow and sparking.

Taelina paused before laughing. "Fair enough, but we need a plan. The parasite will expect a rescue attempt," she said.

"Well, I doubt we can burn them off now," said Chloe, "Any other suggestions?"

"Symbiotes have always shown a vulnerability to electricity in my experience," said Spider-Man.

Taelina grinned at Chloe evilly, "Our heavy hitters."

"Hitters?" asked Chris, before Taelina tossed a spark of lightning into a light, blowing it out.

"My daedric blood is sealed, but not my old skills," she said calmly.

"Still, probably ought to have a backup plan," said Spider-Woman, "If it can adapt to fire, it can probably adapt to electricity as well."

"Surely there were weapons made to fight these things," said Taelina.

Chris said, "Full rack of S-45 sonic rifles."

Just then, Spider-Woman clutched her head. "You ok?" asked Spider-Man.

"I can sense it again...it's...it's at the waterfront," Spider-Woman managed.

"But I thought you weren't connected to that symbiote," said Spider-Man. "Maybe my symbiote's learned how to connect to that one," said Spider-Woman.

"Then we have a hunt," smirked Taelina, before Spider-Woman looked horrified.

"Wait, I think I know what put it on the radar," said Spider-Woman.

"What?" asked Chloe.

"I think it just made a spawn," said Spider-Woman.

"Oh...shit..." muttered Chloe, before snapping at the computer, "Tell me nothing en-route."

The computer paused before saying, "There are 5 NSC vessels in range...1 has altered its heading. ETA to arrival, 2 hours."

"Yeah, let's nip this weed in the bud before pest control gets here," said Chloe.

* * *

Not far away...

"Ok, so the first attempt didn't go very well. But on the bright side, we found Dark Start," said Lady NegaMorph.

"As much as I need my daily cardio, don't you have your own flunkies for backup?" asked Omnirus.

"SILENCE! I'M PAYING YOU TO HELP ME!" snapped Lady NegaMorph, adding, "And the last thing I need is Falcore saying 'I told you so'" in a mocking impression of Falcore.

"Anyways, we should find that symbiote before it starts spawning," said Leroy.

"You'd think I'd create a symbiote that could go Gremlins on me?" asked Lady Nega.

There was a chorus of 'Yes' at that and Dark Start, still dizzy, called "I can see hamsters."

"Trust me, I only wanted one dragon-hunting slime. That's why I had Doc Ock sterilize it," said Lady Nega.

"More like its reproductive functions have been locked, not unlike the Shar-Ekta females," said Cyber, fluctuating into genius mode for a minute.

"Then why does this doohickey you had me make say there's two now?" called Cyber.

"Impossible. There can be only one of it," said Lady Nega.

Cyber walked over and showed her the new remote, which showed two dots.

"That must be a glitch," said Lady Nega, "There should only be one. But at least they're close so we won't miss it."

"Are you sure?" said Omnirus, looking at it.

"Yes, there are only specific ways to make that symbiote spawn," said Lady NegaMorph, "If it had any success on its own, the offspring would be weak and frail."

"What if it was plasma-powered when it did it?" said Omnirus.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no..." said Lady Nega, starting to panic.

"Well, it'd only be a weak little thing," said Leroy.

"Even a weak symbiote can wipe the floor with us on the right host," said Cyber.

"Yeah...plus it would get the NSC's atten-" said Omnirus before there was a thud, the group seeing that Lady Nega had fainted.

Leroy suggested, "Steal her wallet?"

"Where do ladies keep wallets?" asked Cyber.

"I don't care. Let's just steal anything valuable," said Omnnirus.

* * *

Considering time was growing short, the group decided to take the express route. Most of them were groaning when they exited NegaMorph's shadow portal. "You guys should do that more often," said Chloe, "It toughens you up."

"Yes, it's hardly worse than your standard Oblivion portal," said Taelina.

"Then why did you look so traumatized when you came out of me earlier?" asked NegaMorph.

"Because I was coming out of the wrong hole," said Taelina darkly.

"They're in there," said MJ, her suit forming over her.

Taelina sniffed and said, "There's only two. That's good. We can take them."

"Great, you said it," said Chloe dully.

"Let's hurry before there are three," said Spider-Man.

The group headed into the building to hear a few cackles in the distance as well as a conversation.

"Just rest up. Feed on the fire. Eventually, we'll be able to make more," said a male voice.

"I'm hungry. There's no chocolate left," snapped a female voice.

"Oh, that's easy enough to get," said the male voice, "Humans do love their chocolates."

"No, why do we have to hide here, doing nothing, honey?" snapped the female voice with an angry hiss.

"Because you're too weak to hunt right now," said the male voice.

"We're stronger than everyone," snapped the female, the group peering out to see two symbiotes arguing. They were both purple, the one bonded to the male had blue highlights. But the female one had black highlights that only flickered red, mostly when she was talking.

"Yes, we are stronger. But heroes here have a habit of finding a way around that," snapped the male.

"Then can't we pick off some of the weaker ones until we're stronger?" asked the female.

The male sniffed the air before grinning, "Yes...but why go out when the foods delivered itself?" slowly turning to look at the group's hiding place

"No point in waiting now," said Taelina before throwing a lightning bolt at the symbiotes.

The two symbiotes scattered with laughs, into the shadows. "Taelina, is that you?" asked the male.

"Yes and I'm going to have your hides made into rugs," snarled Taelina.

"Oh, that's so cute coming from a fleabag who could only get me as a date by brainwashing me," sneered the male, the female snapping "I KNEW IT!"

"Ha, pay up, NegaMorph," said Chloe. "What are you talking about? I'm the one who bet against Taelina's charms," said NegaMorph.

"And sister...the one with a mental defence like a revolving door. What use are you?" sneered the male from somewhere above.

"Hey!" snapped Chloe, sending a lightning bolt upwards.

"Missed...and the queen who gave up her role," laughed the male

"America's a democracy for a reason," said Spider-Woman.

"You're a traitor to your species, o'queen," snarled the voice before a blue energy bolt shot down from the rafters at Spider-Woman, melting a hole in the floor.

"Yeah, watch out for the plasma bolts," said NegaMorph.

"THAT THING'S MATT?" snapped Chloe, twitching as her gamma contamination started to kick in.

"Took you long enough," sneered the symbiote, "And you say I'm a slow guesser."

"MATTHEW JAMES LYNCH, GET YOUR BLOB-COVERED BUTT DOWN HERE!" roared Chloe.

"Make me," said the symbiote before waggling an extra-long tongue at Chloe.

Chloe glared, aiming a blast before she was tackled by the female and thrown into a wall and diving at Chris.

"And this would be Kala," said Chris before firing his sonic rifle.

Kala staggered back before laughing insanely. "With Matt's singing?" she giggled before lunging.

"I was worried about that," said Chris before swinging the rifle like a bat.

Kala yelped as she was knocked to the side, Matt landing with an evil grin. "Sister, I'd like to pick your brain."

"And I'd like you to brush your teeth," said Chloe.

"Oh, good one," sneered Matt before his left hand twitched, a large scythe blade appearing.

"Nice scythe. Too bad you were always lousy with swordfighting," said Chloe.

"You'd think that," sneered Matt, sending a blast of energy out at her.

The plasma blast pushed Chloe back a bit, but her gamma-enhanced physique didn't take much damage. "Spidey, any suggestions?" she asked.

"Spider-Woman, you can sense them again. Can't you give them orders?" called Spider-Man.

"I don't think so," said Spider-Woman, "There was stuff I had to give up to maintain control."

"It's the best we have," called Chloe, backing up from the slashes from Matt.

"Well, I'll give it a try," said Spider-Woman, "But if I start to go Carnage, you guys better snap me out of it."

Chloe yelled "NOW!" as Matt tried to snap at her.

"Symbiotes, stand down," called Spider-Woman.

Matt paused at that, shaking in place before hissing, "No...need...to...feeeed."

"Your queen commands you to let the humans go," said Spider-Woman.

Kala hissed angrily, before reluctantly letting go of Taelina, Matt though seemed to be fighting back. "They...aren't...humans..." snarled Matt's symbiote. Kala blinked, before grinning evilly and starting to try and eat Taelina again.

Just then, a jagged mouth open on Spider-Woman's face and she snapped, "I said let your hosts go right now!"

Kala hissed in fear, the symbiote falling of her, though Matt hissed angrily, "I don't...recognize...you"

"I am the one that spawned you and I am ordering you to leave your host now!" snapped Spider-Woman.

"NOOO!" roared Matt, sending a blast of plasma at her.

The blast hit Spider-Woman, sending her flying into a wall. "Mary Jane!" cried Spider-Man.

Matt laughed insanely before heading for the nearest door. However, as soon as he stepped outside, something clicked underfoot. Matt looked down only for a bubble of sonic energy to form around him and started blasting him with very loud noise. The symbiote shrieked in agony, clutching its head, before it began to peel off.

"Huh, nice trap, Chris," said NegaMorph.

"I didn't set it up," said Chris.

"That would be my doing," said a man walking into view, a man with greenish skin and a beard of short quills.

"Hey, it's...uh...um..." Spider-Man paused as he tried to think.

"Haze Mancer. Been a while, hasn't it? That symbiote's my bounty," said Haze, shouldering his rifle at the group.

"I don't know who this guy is, but I don't think I'd trust him with a symbiote," said NegaMorph.

"Well that's just a shame," taunted Haze.

"Well, we can take this guy," said Chloe.

"Oh, I wouldn't try, missy," said Haze. He poked Matt with his gun and said, "Your boy here's pretty weak from that sonic whammy. Probably wouldn't take a lot to put him down for good." At that, he aimed a blaster at the unconscious Matt. "So I'd let me be on my way. It's gonna save you on funeral expenses that way," said Haze.

Chloe said reluctantly, "Let him go."

"Wise decision," said Mancer.

He threw two orbs that seeked out the two symbiotes hoovering them up before floating back. "Pleasure doin' business with you heroes," Haze sneered, before tossing a canister down, a bright flash blinding everyone.

Once everyone could see again, they could see that Haze Mancer was long gone. "I can't believe he got away like that," said Spider-Man.

"That guy was professional," said Chloe.

"Uuuuurgh," groaned Matt at that, a similar groan heard from Kala.

"We better get these guys to Connors," said Spider-Man, "Symbiotes tend to leave their hosts drained."

* * *

Kala grumbled as she woke up, noticing that she was on a flame retardant bed. "Urgh...I am gonna kill whoever made that symbiote," she grumbled. She lifted her hand made small flames appear on each fingertip. "On the other hand, it did jumpstart my fire powers," she said.

She looked around, remembering her symbiote saying something about enhancing her DNA's potential before spotting her reflection, causing her eye to twitch. "Maybe Matt won't notice," she said before pausing, "Oh who am I kidding? What guy wouldn't notice his girlfriend's bust getting bigger? Then again, Matt is rather thick..."

"First I find out where I am," she muttered before seeing the SHIELD sign. "Oh nuts," she muttered.

A voice on the intercom said, "Please remain lying down. This is standard procedure for post-symbiote cleansing and verification."

"Bite me, I woke up in an improved body with a bigger-why am I getting angry?" said Kala.

"Residual hormone flux. Symbiotes thrive on adrenaline," said the voice on the intercom.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" snapped Kala.

"You'll be high-strung and testy for a while until your brain chemicals settle," said the voice.

"I AM NOT TESTY!" screamed Chloe, sending out a fire fury

"There may also be a correlation between your fire powers and your temper," said the voice.

"Where's Matt?" snapped Kala.

"He's resting. He took a worse drain than yours, not to mention the shock that sonic attack did to his internal organs," said the voice.

"I want to see him right now," said Kala sulkily, adding, "Mostly cause the room's on fire."

"We'll see you moved to a new room shortly," said the voice, "You may need to wait for Matt to recover a little more first."

"Erm...the fire's rather big now," said Kala nervously.

"Don't you have control over fire?" asked the voice.

"Not when the walls are on fire," said Kala with concern.

Just then, Chloe's voice was heard on the intercom. "You need to focus," she said, "You can stop the fire as easily as you can start it."

"Chloe, lemme out!" snapped Kala.

"Kala, if you're going to have your elemental powers back, then you need to keep your control over them," said Chloe. Kala concentrated at that, the flame flowing into her. "That's better," said Chloe's voice.

"Now then, where's Matt?" snapped Kala.

"He's resting. He may be able to talk soon, but he won't be on his feet for at least a day," said Chloe.

Kala frowned at where a camera was, "I want to see him...NOW!"

"Very well. Please wait a few moments," said the first voice.

* * *

Kala frowned as she was led through the corridors to another secure room. "You have to understand that Lynch is in a delicate state right now," said one of the SHIELD medics, "That sonic attack rattled up his insides pretty badly."

"I wanna see him," said Kala stubbornly.

"Fine, but don't touch him and don't get him excited," said the medic.

Kala frowned before walking into the room they indicated and pausing in horror. Matt was hooked up to several machines, apparently asleep. "Oh...oh," she managed walking up carefully. "Matt?" she asked tenderly, gently shaking his arm.

"Kala...that you?" asked Matt drowsily.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm so sorry. This is my fault," said Kala, leaning over him to hug him.

"Ah, ah, Kala, don't touch," said Dr. Connors.

"It's ok," said Matt weakly.

Kala glared. "Yeah so butt out...sorry," she said, getting her temper under control.

"His nanites are doing a remarkable job of repairing his injuries though," said Dr. Connors, "But right now, he is very tender right now and he won't be on active duty for at least 24 hours."

"This was my fault so I'm staying with him till he's well," snarled Kala, her eyes literally blazing with flames.

"Kala, this is a no-smoking facility," said Matt.

Kala frowned. "That's not funny," she said.

"Definitely a sign he's on the mend," said Chloe dryly.

* * *

Falcore winced as he heard Lady NegaMorph yell, "THOSE SYMBIOTES WERE MINE, YOU CUT-PRICE BOBA FETT!"

"I believe the Earth expression is 'finders keepers'," came the reply.

"I can literally reach down the phone and choke you, you little thief!" snapped Lady NegaMorph.

"So sorry, but someone's already paid me a good amount to catch these things. And interdimensional travel ain't cheap these days," said Haze Mancer.

"I just bought those! Who paid you off? I want a name!" snapped Lady NegaMorph.

"Sorry, but that's a breach in customer confidentiality," said Mancer.

"Grah! This isn't over, Mancer," snapped Lady Nega, smashing the comm in rage.

Falcore walked forward. "There is always the backup plan," he said, showing the vial he'd taken with a smug smirk.

"Not in the mood, Falcore!" snapped Lady Nega.

"Well, my girlfriend already proved it's reliable. Just saying," said Falcore.

Lady Nega glared at him, a black aura flaring around her. "I'm about one smart comment away from going on a dragon tantrum," she snarled, "I suggest you back away."

"I'm not trying to be smart. I'm simply suggesting we use tried and tested technology," said Falcore with a bow.

"Leave," snapped Lady NegaMorph.

"As you wish, my lady," said Falcore, bowing once more before walking out.

Lady NegaMorph snarled before flaring up into her dragon form and letting out an enraged roar.

She paused as she heard a smug voice in her head, "What's wrong? Villain work not working?"

"Shut up!" snapped Lady NegaMorph.

"Hmm...Falcore even offered you a working solution..." taunted the voice.

"I do not need this right now!" snapped Lady NegaMorph.

"Hmm...you want me, the person you bodysnatched, who chased my boyfriend away after convincing him I was an irredeemable monster, to stop annoying you...hmm...NAAAAH!" said the voice.

Lady NegaMorph let out an angry roar, shadow fire shooting out of her mouth.

"So mature. Did it occur that, horrible as it was, your little Articuno hybrid worked?" said the voice.

"So what?!" snapped Lady NegaMorph.

"And those splitters gave you another vial? And you have at least one more competent minion?" said the voice in a 'talking to idiots' voice.

"And those birds would fly the coop if they think they're powerful enough to get away with it," snapped Lady NegaMorph.

"Your first hybrid didn't," said the voice pointedly.

Lady NegaMorph snorted and said, "Like I trust them. I'm getting some ice cream."

"And another thing, don't ruin my body," said the voice, "I don't want to have to work off so many pounds when I get it back." The voice added "You know, Falcore's gonna take that serum one way or another. You're more likely to keep him loyal if you let him. Food for thought."

"All I want is comfort food," snapped Lady NegaMorph.

"Ok...have fun when he rebels," laughed the voice, adding, "You won't be much of a villain if you chase your underlings away."

"Just be quiet," snapped Lady NegaMorph.

* * *

Of course, the entire thing was being watched by Doctor Octopus's octobots, which have avoided attention as they watched Lady NegaMorph try to recapture her symbiotes. And he found the whole thing rather underwhelming. "That is the last time I make symbiotes for someone else," said Doc Ock.

"I have traced the bounty hunters employer to source," said one of his drones.

"Excellent. I need to speak with him," said Doctor Octopus before turning to another monitor.

"Connecting," said the drone.

A few seconds later, Taskmaster's face appeared in the monitor. "Octavius, you look better than when I last saw you," said Taskmaster.

"Thanks to one of my newer formulas," said Doc Ock, "Speaking of new formulas, your alien bounty hunter has captured that symbiote."

"I know, he already told me," said Taskmaster, "Though I get the feeling I won't be seeing the surplus."

"He kept one?" said Doc Ock coldly.

"Maybe. From what I heard, the spawn was weak and sickly. Might not even survive the trip," said Taskmaster.

"Still, it's remarkable that it was able to figure out a way around the gene lock I put in it," said Doc Ock, "Even if the offspring is too weak."

"I wouldn't put it past Haze to fix it. He tried to sell me several 'custom' symbiotes," said Taskmaster.

"And where would he get those?" asked Doc Ock, "I should be the only source of them."

"Well, he's not from this neighborhood. Probably even further away than we think," said Taskmaster.

"I trust you'll use the symbiote better then its last owner," said Doc Ock.

"Oh, I intend to make good use of it," said Taskmaster.

"You realize that SHIELD will be coming after you soon," said Doctor Octopus.

"Good, I've been wanting a rematch with Spider-Man for a while now. And I'll be ready," said Taskmaster.

* * *

After a considerable time, we have a new chapter. This is actually a two-parter, but it won't take too long to get to the second part. I figured I'd post the 19th chapter on the last day of 2019 and the 20th chapter on the first day of 2020. Anyways, this features a rather atypical symbiote, as you can see. And we're not done with it yet. We'll be dealing with it in the next chapter. Keep an eye out for it and please review.


	20. Maze of the Taskmaster

**Reticence Saga**

**Severed Web**

**Chapter 20: Maze of the Taskmaster**

"I hoped I would never be in this position again. A friend got attacked by a new symbiote, one that was stronger than even Carnage. The symbiote's gone, but someone very untrustworthy took it. And worse, my friend got left in a critical state from its removal. I can't help but feel that this is my-

An apple bounced off Spider-Man's head, Morph scolding, "You didn't do anything to make it your fault. Heck, you helped get it off Matt."

"Ouch, but-" started Spider-Man.

"It's your fault the symbiote got loose? How could you possibly be responsible for that?" asked Morph, "Stop blaming you for stuff you didn't cause. Even they know you couldn't have done anything."

Spider-Man paused. "Wait...do you see the audience too?" he asked.

"Oh, I see them almost all the time..." said Morph, his eyes staring in different directions.

Spider-Man took a step back before heading out towards the medical center, where Matt was still laid up. Spider-Man stepped in and asked, "Uh, Matt, how are you feeling?"

"Better," said Matt, "If sonic attacks don't kill you, you recover pretty quickly." Matt held up a hand, "And don't apologise. This isn't the first time one of those sentient goops has got me. But we shouldn't leave something like that on the loose. Or in the hands of a bounty hunter."

"Yeah, especially a guy like Haze Mancer," said Spider-Man.

"Haze...Mancer...wait I know that name," said Matt curiously before adding, "That's the guy who gave Taskmaster his early parole."

"You read his file?" asked Spider-Man.

"Well, I actually was there when the busting out happened," said Matt, "Would have stopped them, but then Skullface blasted me with some hi-tech cannon. You don't forget being hit with that freight train of a gun."

"I would have thought Fury would have sent someone after Taskmaster sooner," said Spider-Man.

"Especially with that thing," said Matt.

"Funny you should mention that," said Nick Fury, who had apparently entered the room.

Matt started, clutching his chest before the medical equipment kicked in. He breathed deeply before snapping, "DON'T YOU EVER KNOCK?!"

"Yeah, next time you want to scare somebody, tell them to come to your office first," said Spider-Man.

"Or, since I'm the Director of SHIELD, I can talk with you wherever I want," said Fury.

"I don't wanna be the first dragon to suffer a heart attack," snapped Matt.

"You're probably not the first," said Spider-Man.

"I wouldn't say that," said Matt, "Dragons are very hardy creatures."

"Well, you can rest all you want, because this mission is meant for Spider-Man," said Fury.

"What mission?" grumbled Matt, trying to sit up.

"The reason we haven't sent anyone after Taskmaster is because he's very good at covering his tracks," said Fury, "It's taken all this time just to find where he's currently based. Which has become more important considering the weapons he has at his disposal."

"Understandable...my ribs still hurt," muttered Matt to himself.

"You're talking about more than just the new symbiote, aren't you?" asked Spider-Man.

Fury glanced over at Matt and said, "Perhaps we should discuss this where we can't be overheard."

"Hey, I can keep secrets," snapped Matt, adding, "Especially when it comes to weapons that are probably illegal due to the level of firepower."

Fury sighed and said, "I shouldn't be telling you this, but I suppose you do have an invested interest." His wristcomp projected a small hologram of the cannon that Taskmaster stole.

"Ok...what the hell is that?" said Matt, leaning up.

"This is a prototype weapon developed by reverse-engineering Asgardian technology," said Fury, "Specifically the Destroyer armor."

"Ok...that's insane..." said Matt frankly, looking at the weapon.

"Why would you make such a thing?" asked Spider-Man.

"In case Asgardian trouble comes knocking when Thor isn't around," said Fury, "And before you ask, this is above board with Asgard. Odin provided some of the material needed to make this cannon."

"That's nice. You made a portable nuclear cannon. Even the NSC thinks Asgardian weapons are over the top," said Matt manically.

"And that thing's in Taskmaster's possession?" asked Spider-Man.

"Yes, and if Asgard finds out, there could be a lot of political complications," said Fury.

Matt said calmly, "Erm...doesn't Asgard literally have a watchman who sees everything?" Matt looked upwards, feeling a little exposed.

"It would seem that even Taskmaster isn't reckless enough to use this cannon in the open...yet," said Fury, "But we can't let him keep it any longer. If he can figure out how it works..."

"Ok, you're a superspy. _The_ superspy. There is no way you don't know where that blaster is," said Matt.

"Thanks to Mancer, we now have a strong lead of where Taskmaster is based," said Fury.

"Wait...how'd you manage that?" asked Matt.

"Your brief bond with that symbiote gave it plasma irradiation, which is quite traceable to the right scanners," said Fury.

"Wait...I'm radioactive? That explains a few things," said Matt.

* * *

"You know, plasma isn't the same thing as microwave radiation," said Chip, "And that is probably the simplest reason this shouldn't work."

"Oh please, this'll work," said Draco, before turning to Matt, face down on a canteen table.

Fenris was sitting opposite and rolling his eyes. "I told him he couldn't drink me under the table," he said.

Draco looked at a glass and sniffed it. "One glass of Kr'ta?" he asked before Fenris, with a deadpan look pointed under the table to several dozen empty bottles.

"Oh dear God," said Chip

"Don't think we'll get another opportunity at this," said Draco.

"Note to self: study properties of demigod livers," muttered Chip.

* * *

"They shared at least once my stomach was pumped," said Matt.

"The point being that now that we know where the symbiote is, we need to retrieve both it and the Destroyer Cannon," said Fury.

"That's actually what it's called?" asked Spider-Man.

"You got a better name?" asked Fury.

"Well it's to the point, anyway," muttered Matt.

"And you're sending us then," said Spider-Man. "I'm afraid not," said Fury, "Lynch is in no shape to be out in the field right now."

"I'm fine." said Matt, wincing and sighing as his nanites read off a list of bloodwork that explained why Fury was right.

"We need a handpicked team of agents to retrieve the weapons," said Fury.

"I am not being benched..." snapped Matt, adding, "Wait a sec, I don't even work for SHIELD!"

"Not so fast there." Chloe walked in and pulled up a holographic paper on her wristcomp, "In the event that a captain or squad leader is incapacitated for medical reason, the second-in-command shall assume leadership until the captain or squad leader is fit for duty again. Which means what I says goes, and what I say is you're not going anywhere until you're better."

Fury turned at that, frowning. "How long were you listening?" he asked, as Matt yelled something about mutiny.

"Oh, I had a fly on the wall," said Chloe.

What looked like a bug flew over until it turned into Morph. "I brought a get-well present," said Morph, holding out a half-empty box of chocolates.

"I refuse to be bedridden," snapped Matt, before taking the box and looking. "Hey, you ate all the coffee ones...oh dear God," he said, getting a distant look of terror.

"Oh, and to make sure you get bedrest, he's going to be your nurse," said Chloe, putting Morph beside Matt's bed.

Morph put on a nurse's hat and asked, "Won't this be fun?"

Matt's eyes blazed at that...literally. "I will get you all back for this," he said darkly.

"In the meantime, we need to get back the sludge and the gun, right?" asked Chloe.

"Yes, before Taskmaster makes use of the Destroyer Cannon," said Fury.

"Right, I assume you're sending Spider-Man, who else?" asked Chloe.

"Well, if you insist on being leader, you should be going as well," said Fury.

"HAH!" called Matt from his bed.

Chloe blinked. "Wait a sec...me?" she said.

"After all, this team will need extra muscle," said Fury, "And considering we're dealing with a symbiote, best send Spider-Woman as well."

"Uh, you certain about that?" asked Spider-Man.

"Well, Agent Venom might be viable, but Taskmaster already tried to get him once and Flash and his symbiote aren't so inseparable," said Fury.

"I'm bringing Silvana along then. Some reliable air support would be preferable," said Chloe.

"Silvana? The one who likes to eat metal?" asked Fury doubtfully.

"Makes sense. If we have to destroy it, maybe she can bite it," said Chloe.

That immediately put an image into Spider-Man's head.

* * *

Silvana had a pie in her hands with a lit fuse attached. She took one bite, which resulted in a big explosion.

* * *

"Let's try to avoid that," said Spider-Man.

"Plus our only other dragon won't wanna go anywhere minus Matt," said Chloe.

"Speaking of whom, where is Kala?" asked Matt.

"In the training room," said Chloe, "She's getting herself back up to speed."

* * *

Kala sent a fireball at a training bot, burning clean through it and the bot behind it, before grabbing a downward blow from another, her hands glowing and melting it. Then she shot a thin flame that cut through the robot's head like a welding torch. She looked around before snorting, smoke coming out. "Huh," she muttered disdainfully.

She picked up a towel and wiped her forehead. "Nothing builds up a sweat like playing with fire," she said before looking at her towel, "Actually, not that much sweat."

She looked at her hands, before at her reflection which flickered to the symbiote that had worn her. Kala jumped before seeing her reflection is normal. "Calm down, Kala," she told herself, "You're not infected. You've been given a clean bill of health."

A voice in her ear said, _"But you landed your boyfriend in intensive care...a guy who survived being orbital bombarded and you almost killed him..."_

Kala shook her head and said, "I'm not listening to a voice that can't be real in the first place."

_"More real than you think...you think I'm that easy to be rid off?"_ laughed the voice.

"You're just the guilt I'm feeling. The real inner voice was killed months ago," said Kala.

_"Oh please...it takes more than that to get rid of an other,"_ sneered the voice.

"Ok, I'm going to start listening to music now," said Kala.

_"You'll just end up killing hi...are you listening you music? Stop that!"_ snapped the voice as Kala put 'Eye of the Tiger' on at full volume.

The voice tried to keep yelling at Kala, but Kala just kept running around the training room as the music played. Eventually, the voice grew fainter and stopped altogether.

"And that shut her up," said Kala proudly.

* * *

The SHIELD jet was headed for Taskmaster's base, located in [CLASSIFIED]. The team was going over what they know. "I know some of you haven't had to deal with Taskmaster personally, so let me give you a brief overview of him," said Spider-Man.

"Ok, do tell," said Chloe calmly. Considering her recent gamma empowering, her hero alias has been changed to 'Moonshock'. She had reservations about the new moniker.

"First of all, his power is a combat chameleon," said Spider-Man.

"Huh?" asked Silvana.

"He can learn any type of move just by seeing it," said Spider-Man, "And he's got a photographic memory. So in addition to his own combat training, that makes really hard to fight."

"You mean if he saw me breathe fire?" asked Silvana in confusion.

"Well, I don't think he can copy powers, but he can copy how you throw a punch or kick," said Spider-Man, "Also, can you breathe fire? I've never seen you do so."

"I used to be able to...but I dunno if I can anymore," said Silvana thoughtfully.

"Don't try it in here," said Moonshock, "But what you're saying is that Taskmaster can only do what a normal human can."

"Doesn't mean he can't kick serious butt," said Spider-Man.

"So how do we stop him if he can learn our tricks?" asked Moonshock.

"I find the best way is do things he can't," said Spider-Man, jumping up and sticking to the ceiling for emphasis, "Also, he can only learn if he sees you."

"Easy enough," said Moonshock, checking a flash grenade

"Still, Taskmaster is not underequipped," said Spider-Man, "He's got your basic evil mercenary guns, grenades, swords, and lots of weapons, even if not all of them are as dangerous as the ones we're being sent to get."

"And now he has a super-cannon," said Moonshock sarcastically.

"And a new kind of symbiote," said Spider-Woman, "Think he'll use it on himself?"

"I dunno...this symbiote seems...picky," said Moonshock.

"That actually works for us," said Spider-Man, "Which means Taskmaster won't have anyone who can wear it."

"Except for us," said Moonshock dryly.

Silvana nodded. "If either me or Miss Lynch are possessed, we will be extremely dangerous," she said.

"If it can bond with you," said Spider-Woman, "You seem more machine than organic."

Moonshock shook her head. "My brother used to have such a symbiote in his rogues gallery," she said.

"Well, Mancer has a container for transporting symbiotes. I think we can borrow it," said Spider-Man.

"Yes...I'm sure he'll share," said Moonshock darkly.

* * *

But Spider-Man's team wasn't the only one closing in on Taskmaster's base. Though they may be the only who all agreed to go. "Why did I let you drag me into this?" asked Dark Start.

"Because you can't break out of these tethers," said Cyber.

"I do not want to be on the same planet as that...thing!" snapped Dark Start.

"Well, we can't really pass up the opportunity to have an anti-dragon weapon," said Leroy.

"Yes...one that then tries to eat us," snapped Dark Start.

"Dark Start, you're the newest in our little group, so I can understand why you don't see why this is such an opportunity right now," said Omnirus.

"No, I understand. I just wonder why I was nominated as the bait," snapped Dark Start.

"Because my Omnitrix prevents possessors from clinging to me and Leroy and Cyber are as non-elemental as footstools," said Omnirus.

"So? I refuse to be treated this way." snapped Dark Start till Leroy hit her with a frying pan.

"Give her a whack about every 15 minutes. Or when she comes around," said Omnirus.

Cyber said, "Seriously though, how do we stop her eating our brains?"

"You think a guy like Taskmaster wouldn't have a symbiote-proof cage to keep it in?" asked Omnirus.

"Knowing our luck?" said Cyber pointedly.

* * *

Eventually, the SHIELD jumpjet managed to get to [LOCATION CLASSIFIED]. "You sure this is the right place?" asked Spider-Woman, "I'm not really seeing anything except for flat lands and scrub brush."

Silvana sniffed the air. "Lotta metal around here," she said calmly before looking down. "Why do you people keep building down under?" she asked.

"Well, it wouldn't be well-hidden if it were aboveground," said Spider-Man.

"Why does it have to be underground?" gulped Silvana

"Is there a problem?" asked Spider-Woman.

"Last time I was underground, I died," said Silvana nervously.

"Yeah, I can see why that would cause a phobia," said Spider-Man.

"Nothing's going to happen to you this time," said Moonshock gently.

"Fine...fine..." said Silvana, before pointing at a small cave, "That's the door."

"That seems...too easy..." said Spider-Man.

Silvana sighed and went first, several hidden machineguns peppering her before she walked out. "You're overreacting. Just some loud noses," she said.

"Let's try to find the secret entrance," suggested Spider-Man.

"That wasn't the secret entrance?" asked Silvana.

"There's always a secret entrance," said Moonshock with a smirk.

"And considering you're a living metal detector, it should be easy for you to find it," said Spider-Man.

Silvana sighed before concentrating, "There's a hidden door 10 feet in."

"Ok, I'll go and see if I can get to it," said Spider-Man.

The inside of the cave looked...mostly normal, apart from alot of discs on the floor, and the turrets clicking harmlessly. Fortunately, the spider-sense allowed Spidey to know where the remaining traps were.

* * *

Taskmaster watched as Spider-Man walked through the cave. He had expected the annoyance to avoid the shots, it was just a shame that lizard had walked through first.

"Wander right in, spider," said Taskmaster, "You won't be leaving so easily."

He smirked as the others caught up. "Well, well...a werewolf, a lizard, and a symbiote queen walk into a cave. Sounds like a bad joke," he smirked, looking at the controls.

"I can bag that symbiote if you want me to," said Haze Mancer.

"But it would be over too quickly," said Taskmaster, "There's so much to observe here. I think we should push them to their limits."

"Why not just shoot them? Why run this out?" said Haze, his disgust for prolonging things clear. Yes, he was a bounty hunter, but he always made it quick

"First of all, I have a hefty score to settle with Spider-Man," said Taskmaster, "And secondly, I want to see what these heroes are capable of."

"Urgh...and people wonder why I hate taking Earth jobs," muttered Haze, before whistling as, on the screen, Silvana soundlessly removed part of the lift doors and took a thoughtful bite. "Oh, you're missing the best part," smirked Haze.

"That metal eater may cause a problem," said Taskmaster, "Not to mention she'd lead them to me too quickly."

"You wanna take on that thing? I think I will stick around..." said Haze, thinking 'For the entertainment value.' "So, what about those other aliens?" asked Mancer.

"Keep them away from each other...for now," said Taskmaster.

"Oh, yes...give me the easy job, jackass. I'm charging for this," said Haze, readying his weapons.

"The job should pay for itself," said Taskmaster.

* * *

The group headed down the tunnel, Moonshock seeing several small cameras following them. "Shouldn't we have been attacked by now?" she asked.

"Well, I'm waiting for something to trigger," said Spider-Man.

On cue, there was a click and the door behind them sealed. "You had to say it," said Moonshock darkly, Silvana cracking her knuckles and heading for the door, a small canister falling in front of her.

Silvana sniffed and said, "That's not a bomb." Just then, the canister shot a blast of gas into Silvana's face.

The others ran up in time for the smoke to dissipate. "I'm ok...I think..." she said, before looking at them and going bug-eyed. She could see skeletons, metal dragon skeletons, embedded in the walls.

"No...NO...NOT AGAIN!" Silvana screamed, backing up.

"Silvana?" asked Moonshock.

"Dead...all dead..." gibbered Silvana, shaking like a leaf

"Silvana, calm down. I think you're seeing things," said Moonshock. Then Silvana looked at them. But she didn't see her friends. She saw the horrible undead monsters that were the failed attempts at making metal Shar-Khans.

"NOOO! GET BACK!" she screamed, remembering when those things had broken loose, strong enough to even bring a Ferrus dragon down. How one had grabbed her. She began levitating up shards of metal, sending them out at them. The creatures quickly ran away from the shards.

"Yeah! You're not killing me again!" snapped Silvana, sending more shards out before one sent some sort of sticky cable that glued her arm to the ground. "Get off me!" she snapped, trying to pull herself free.

One of the creatures said in a rasping voice, "Silvana...it's us...your friends."

"Get away from me!" snapped Silvana, sending a telekinetic shockwave out.

The three creatures were knocked flying, Silvana getting up with a growl, her fear fuelling her rage. She barely noticed her onboard computer saying, "Hallucinogenic toxin detected. Beginning purge sequence."

What she did notice was the feeling of needing to throw up. "Bad...time..." she muttered before doubling up. There was a revving sound in her throat before she spat out a green slime.

The world seemed to melt at that, the monsters melting into her friends. "Urgh...my stomach feels like the time I ate the food mixer," she grumbled, looking at her friends, right up till her eyes bugged out and she giggled faintly.

"Looks like spitting out that toxin scrambled her circuits," said Spider-Man, "Don't think she'll be in any condition to go into the base."

Silvana giggled once more before passing out cold.

"Yeah, looks like she'll have to wait outside," said Spider-Woman.

"That's nice. I don't like caves," giggled Silvana.

* * *

"And that's how to take out a heavy hitter," said Haze smugly to Taskmaster.

"Right, wouldn't want them to cheat their way through," said Taskmaster.

"I thought the only way through your maze was to cheat," said Mancer with a smirk.

"There's a fair chance to get through," said Taskmaster, "A slim chance, but fair. Someone that can manipulate metal like that would be breaking the rules."

"That fear gas is gonna cost extra," said Haze calmly.

"Put it on my tab," said Taskmaster dismissively.

"Tabs get called in at some point," warned Haze, watching as the remaining three headed down a tunnel.

* * *

"Ok, the three of us can handle whatever Taskmaster still has up his sleeves," said Spider-Man, "We just don't know what to expect."

"Also we need to stay together. We can't let him separate us," said Moonshock thoughtfully, before a trapdoor dropped her silently out of sight.

"Right, so we need to check to see if we're all in...sight?" asked Spider-Man, pausing and looking around to see a distinct lack of Moonshock. "Oh, not again," he groaned.

"So, should we hold hands or something?" asked Spider-Woman.

"Um...isn't that kind of awkward in a supervillain lair?" asked Spider-Man.

"You could try," said Taskmaster's voice from speakers with amusement.

"Oh, we were starting to think no one was home," said Spider-Man.

"And yet you walked in anyways," said Taskmaster.

"What did you do with Moonshock?" snapped Spider-Woman.

Taskmaster chuckled, "Oh, she's taking her own path. Don't want it to be too easy for you."

"You know, I wouldn't be against taking it easy," said Spider-Man.

"But how do you know your limits if you're never pushed to them?" said Taskmaster, "Besides, I've yet to see your girlfriend in action. Let's start with something easy...for me." The door behind them sealed and the lights flickered out, before hidden saws began shooting along the walls towards them.

"Guess what? It's easy for us too," said Spider-Man. He nimbly jumped between the saws, Spider-Woman following close behind him.

"Very good...very good..." said Taskmaster calmly, adding, "Lets up the ante, shall we?" before a blast of flame came from the wall, lighting up to show several turrets aiming.

"I'm getting a deja vu feeling," said Spider-Man.

"From the last time you fought Taskmaster?" asked Spider-Woman.

"No, from the last time Fury put me through a training course he customized," said Spider-Man.

"Does your symbiote like the flames?" asked Taskmaster, the flamethrowers turning to focus on Spider-Woman.

The symbiote seemed discomforted by the heat, but Spider-Woman didn't fun. "I don't just use the symbiote," said Spider-Woman before shooting flame-retardant webs at the flamethrowers.

The flamethrowers shuddered before exploding, only for several more to fold out. "Always wondered what extreme cold would do too," said Taskmaster, one of the new turrets firing a pressurised stream of steaming liquid that instantly froze the wall it hit.

"This is starting to be overkill," said Spider-Man, spraying webs over the turrets.

"I believe in pushing people to their limits," said Taskmaster.

"And I believe in pacing people first," said Spider-Man.

"Where's the fun in that?" said TaskMater smugly

* * *

Moonshock looked around a corner, muttering darkly. She'd dropped about 30 feet. "I almost broke my tail," grumbled Moonshock.

An arrow shot past her at that. "You know, I heard all about you royals in my travels. Meant to be the ultimate predator. Now I hear you whinin' about a little fall." The shot in the wall exploded, spreading an incredibly strong peppermint smell, Moonshock yelping and covering her nose.

"That's hardly the worst thing you could shoot at me," said Moonshock.

"True, but now you can't smell anything else," said the voice.

Moonshock sniffed before yelping, only smelling peppermint.

"Yeah...can't find what you can't smell," said the voice, a small canister rolling to her feet, a thermite grenade.

"Yeah, just keep bragging," muttered Moonshock as she kicked the grenade away.

There was a flash before she was thrown off her feet by a fireball. "Yeah, I don't have to bother with small arms, kid," said the voice, Haze walking into view.

"And I don't even have to get close," said Moonshock before shooting lightning at Haze.

The blast shot through Haze harmlessly before a blue beam hit her from a side corridor, her leg, where it hit, freezing. "Good thing I've got thick fur," said Moonshock as she rubbed her frozen leg.

A second concussive blast knocked her flying. "Man, you mutts were seriously overrated," said Haze, drawing a machete-shaped energy blade.

"Just wait until I'm warmed up," said Moonshock.

"Take your best shot, lady," said Haze mockingly.

Moonshock put a hand on the floor, sending a jolt of electricity through the floor in Haze's direction. Haze jumped out the way, firing rapidly, Moonshock forced to shelter her face, before something dripped on her shoulder, burning her.

"You know, silver doesn't have to be solid to hurt you," said Mancer, "In fact, it can do more damage as a liquid."

Moonshock looked up in horror and jumping forward, as a stream of liquid silver nitrate fell down, more opening to fire. "I thought you fought fairly?" snapped Moonshock, sending electricity into the nozzles, melting them shut.

"I fight pragmatically," said Mancer, "Only an idiot would try to take on a werewolf in a fair fight." Moonshock turned to the voice before screaming as a stream of silver hit her, a sizzle heard. "That sounded like it hurt," said Haze, reloading a rifle with another silver nitrate filled round.

"You know everyone has a pain threshold," said Mancer, "It's only a matter of time before you hit yours."

"I'm not that easy to deal with," snarled Moonshock, dodging another shot and almost staggering into a silver plated buzzsaw in the wall.

"Been wondering how well you'd withstand wolfsbane, but I don't think you're going to last that long," said Mancer. Moonshock didn't have time to react before a cloud of dust blew into her face. "Then again," said Mancer smugly

Moonshock coughed, feeling very lightheaded now. "This is almost too easy," said Mancer as she got his last round ready.

Moonshock twitched at that, her heartbeat speeding up as her eyes blazed green, around the same time Mancer's scanner beeped. He looked at it before muttering, "Oh shit."

Electricity started crackling around Moonshock as she suddenly surged in size, her black fur turning electric yellow. Mancer backed up, firing the last canister into her chest, electricity crackling over it and evaporating it. Moonshock towered over Mancer, a pillar of muscle, electricity-sparking fur, and anger.

"Hey...it's just a job..." Mancer said, before Moonstruck roared "WOLF-HULK SMASH!"

Mancer immediately decided it was time to cut and run.

* * *

Taskmaster watched as the new Hulk chased his associate. "That's new," he mused, noting where the wolf left herself open to counters. "Ok, let's look in on the other contestants," he muttered.

* * *

"This place is a maze. That's gotta be the fourth dead end by now." Spider-Man muttered

"How is he able to build all of this?" asked Spider-Woman.

"Hmm, I don't give away my contractors, professional courtesy. They like their privacy," said Taskmaster, the blastdoors sealing before hatches opened, water starting to pour in.

"I always wondered what kind of spider you are," said Taskmaster, "Let's see if you're a diving bell spider."

Spider-Woman began firing webbing over the holes, only for new hatches to open. "Not going to be that easy, girl," sneered Taskmaster.

"We gotta find the next door," said Spider-Man.

"Oh, there's a door control. You just have to find it," sneered Taskmaster.

"And it's probably already underwater," said Spider-Man before taking a breath and diving under. Several lit buttons were seen in the depths, glowing faintly in the murky water.

_'Ok, just gotta hit the right…'_ thought Spider-Man as he reached for one button. But a twinge from his spider-sense told him no. He moved his hand to another, hitting the control and the door opening with a bubbling noise before the two Spiders were swept through it and down the corridor beyond.

The two of them coughed up the water they swallowed. "Remind me to not give you too many guessing games," said Taskmaster, "Your spider-sense makes it too easy to suss it out, doesn't it?"

There was a clunk down the hall, the water pouring down a hole ahead.

"I'll need to think of a more appropriate challenge for your girlfriend as well," said Taskmaster.

The Spiders managed to come to a halt just in time, clusters of spikes below in the hole. "Reflexes are still sharp, I see," said Taskmaster.

Spider-Man looked down the pit and said, "Do you put your recruits through this?"

"Only the ones who I think has what it takes to make the cut," said Taskmaster, "Or the ones I want to dispose of quickly."

"Man, not the best of schools," gulped Spider-Man, before a low whine began from hidden speakers.

"We've seen how your girlfriend can take the heat. Now let's see how tough her ears are," said Taskmaster.

The whining began to get louder and louder, the air starting to ripple, more so as the whining got too high to hear. Of course, anyone would be covering their ears at this point, but Spider-Woman's symbiote was shrieking and writhing with pain. "Must...stop...noise..." groaned Spider-Woman.

"Now we're getting somewhere...and my speakers are only at half strength," said Taskmaster, apparently turning up the sound even more as the sound ripples in the air were so powerful it was like standing in a heat haze.

Spider-Man was already sure his ears had started bleeding, which was nothing compared to Spider-Woman's agony. "No! Mary Jane!" he yelled. He probably wouldn't have yelled her name where Taskmaster could hear, but nothing could be heard above the noise.

This time several red organic-looking spears shot out, impaling almost all the speakers with unerring accuracy.

Spider-Man blinked in surprise as the noise died down. But he was a little concerned about Spider-Woman. She was showing a fang-filled mouth that looked very Carnage-like.

"Too much nooiiise...neeeed sssilence..." she hissed, slashing through the last few speakers.

"Uh, Spider-Woman, you hear me?" asked Spider-Man. She hissed at him, showing a long tongue.

Spider-Man looked up to see the glowing optics of Taskmaster's cameras. "Sorry, commercial break, Tasky," he said, sending webbing over all the cameras.

Then he pulled off his mask and said, "MJ, it's me, remember?"

Spider-Woman glared at him, her solid white eyes narrowing before she seemed to come to some of her senses. "The...nooiiise..." she hissed.

"The noise is gone. You took care of that," said Peter, "Don't forget who you are, MJ. You're not the symbiote, you're the woman wearing it."

Spider-Woman paused before the white symbiote eyes turned back to her human eyes, the other facial symbiote features melting back to her face. "They don't really prepare you for how the noise hurts more with a symbiote," said MJ, "He's gonna make it worse. I just hope Moonshock's ok."

Then Mancer was thrown past a T-junction, Wolf-Hulk stomping past before seeing them, her eyes solid green.

"Uh, looks like she's more than fine," said Peter before putting his mask back on.

"You...you with puny Mancer?" Wolf-Hulk snarled.

"Not at all," said Spider-Man, "We don't like him any more than you do."

Wolf-Hulk glared, before she shrunk down to Moonshock. "Quill-faced jerk shot me up with silver nitrate," growled Moonshock. There was a sympathetic wince at that before Moonshock said, "We need to get out of here. This place is a death trap. Wolf-Hulk smashed her way through dozens of things: disintegrators, spikes, acid traps. All he needs is to be lucky once."

"Even so, don't you think we've been a bit too lucky so far?" asked Spider-Woman as she put her mask back on.

"I...did see that the traps seemed to hesitate a little..." said Moonshock thoughtfully.

"Not lucky enough," said Spider-Man, "Taskmaster is definitely putting us through the ringer."

"We have to be close though. There's only so much space," said Moonshock calmly.

"Still, almost makes wish I had stayed back at the Triskelion," said Spider-Woman.

"True," said Moonshock, "I wonder how well Matt's being taken care of now."

* * *

"Morph, if you don't stop this, I'll kill you...for real," said Matt in a manic tone.

"Now, now, nothing helps internal trauma like some hot chicken soup," said Morph, holding up a bowl. The fact that it had a chicken foot sticking out of it made it far less appetizing.

"Morph, don't you dare. It's chicken soup, not chicken foot soup. HELP! SOMEONE! SAVE ME FROM MY NURSE!"

Thankfully, Matt's pleas for help were heard. Kala just happened to be walking by and saw Matt's plight. "Morph, what do you think you're doing?" asked Kala.

"Just giving Matt some soup," said Morph turning around. However, he moved a little too fast and hot soup sloshed out of the bowl and onto Matt's chest.

Mattr bugged out. "AAAAAARGH! SECURITY!" he screamed.

"Morph, vamoose. I'm taking over here," said Kala.

"Let me see your nursing license," said Morph.

Kala glared before setting Morph on fire. "Ok, time to hit the showers," said Morph before walking out.

Kala knelt by Matt and said, "Oh, you poor baby, you wanna show me where it hurts?"

"Oh...just my entire chest..." said Matt through gritted teeth.

"How about I be your personal nurse for a while?" asked Kala.

"Well, you couldn't be worse than Morph," said Matt.

"Ok, I can be so much better," said Kala in a coy tone.

* * *

"I'm sure he's fine," said Moonshock, before sniffing the air, "I may not smell skull head...but I can smell where Mancer was now I'm away from that peppermint bomb of his."

"Well, I guess we just head to the next room and see where it goes from there," said Spider-Man, "I think we may get a clue about where he is."

Moonshock sniffed the air before saying "That way." pointing down one of the corridors.

"You sure?" asked Spider-Woman.

"That tunnel's clear. Just some spike traps," she said.

"That at least won't be so hard," said Spider-Man.

"We only need to go halfway. The second half is sulphuric acid sprayers," said Moonshock, heading into the tunnels.

"Oh, great," said Spider-Man dryly.

Moonshock paused halfway before sliding across the wall. "There," she said calmly.

But just then, a trapdoor opened beneath her. "Oh what-" started Moonshock before she fell down it.

"You really think I'd make it that easy?" sneered Taskmaster

"Do we got after her?" asked Spider-Woman.

"She got awfully riled up the last time she was separated," said Spider-Man. With that, the two Web Warriors jumped down the trapdoor.

The room below found Moonstruck looking dazed. "Ow...I think I landed on something soft," she groaned, a muffled voice saying under her "You think?"

"Is it me or did that sound like-" started Spider-Man before Moonshock was lifted up and swung at Spider-Man.

Omnirus stood up at that. "Ok, I may be willing to fight, but actually landing on me is crossing the line," he snapped.

"What are you doing here?" asked Spider-Man.

"Same reason you are, I assume," said Omnirus, "Not every day a dragon-eating symbiote shows up."

"You're after that thing too?" snapped Moonshock, grabbing Omnirus, who was careful (for now), to keep his voice from anything rage-inducing.

"Not to wear it myself," said Omnirus, "Couldn't wear it if I wanted to. My Omnitrix repels anything trying to take over me."

"Then who wants it? And where is it?" snarled Moonshock.

"Who wouldn't want it?" asked Omnirus, "And I assume it must be close if Taskmaster has dumped your big...muscles on me."

"Because it's insane?" said Spider-Woman pointedly.

"And yours was the craziest of them all, but you've got a firm control over it," said Omnirus pointedly.

"That hardly means you can control it," said Spider-Woman harshly.

Moonshock nodded, "Yeah...so you can leave."

"Leave? After all the training I've been through to get here?" asked Omnirus.

"How long have you been down here?" asked Spider-Man.

Omnirus shrugged, "I dunno...what day is it?"

"Haven't you gotten hungry or thirsty?" asked Spider-Woman.

"I can eat anything," said Omnirus, stretching our four long green tongues to rip a piece out of the wall and swallow it.

"Ok...that was weird...and gross," said Spider-Man.

"Don't you usually travel with your cronies?" asked Moonshock.

"They dumped me here and left to go to an all-you-can-eat buffet," said Omnirus.

"Really?" said Moonshock, skeptically.

Omnirus said in an annoyed tone, "I had the bad luck to land outside a cafe offering discount coconut cake. But it hasn't gone completely to waste. I bet you three have been rushing your way through this place."

"If you meet avoiding deathtraps for the last 3 hours then yes," said Moonshock angrily.

"Well, I've been taking the time to train while I've been down here, honing my different powers and skills," said Omnirus.

"Are you saying you've been level-grinding?" asked Spider-Man.

Omnirus opened his mouth to object before saying in an annoyed tone, "Yes."

Moonshock snorted and said, "What a nerd."

Omnirus glared and said, "There are benefits to extra training. Which you slackers wouldn't know about."

"Slacker?" said Moonshock coldly.

"Yeah, not everyone just coasts through on their muscles and lightning," said Omnirus.

Spider-Man and Spider-Woman exchanged a glance before slowly stepping back from Omnirus as Moonshock snapped "WHAAAAT?"

"Still operating on those barbarian skills, I see," said Omnirus.

Moonshock began to twitch at that, Omnirus grinning before turning to the Spiders. "And you two, you're just teens," he laughed, not noticing as Moonshock hulked out behind him before he said, "And look at you back up in fear." Then he felt something dripping on his head. "Where in a flood trap recently?" asked Omnirus.

A second later, a large paw hand grabbed his head before he was turned to face Wolf-Hulk. "Ah...is it too late to say I was joking?" he asked. Then he sniffed and asked, "What smells like gamma?"

"Wolf-Hulk things puny fuzzball talk too much," snarled Wolf-Hulk, readying a throw. "Oh no," muttered Omnirus before he was thrown down the tunnel out the room, screaming before there was a 'clang' and a faint "Ow."

"How often can Moonshock hulk up like that?" asked Spider-Woman.

"If she's like Bruce Banner, whenever she's angry enough," said Spider-Man with concern, as Wolf-Hulk turned to glare at them.

Just then, there was a flash of green light and a blue and black blur rushed out of the tunnel and hit Wolf-Hulk. A blue and black wolf skidded to a halt, balls between his large toes and a lizard tail stretched out. "Well, you gonna calm her down?" it snapped at high speed.

"You started this, you finish this," said Spider-Woman.

"You know him?" snarled Wolf-Hulk at them before snapping "I SMASH YOU TOO!"

"Ok, this is starting to get out of hand," said Spider-Man.

"I agree," said XLRWolf, "Let's speed this along." With that, he touched his Omnitrix which caused his body to start altering. Strangely enough, he actually slimmed down, getting a body frame closer to that of a greyhound. His claws also became longer and sharper, looking like lances when they were closed together. The biggest change was a pair of turbines that appeared on his hips.

Wolf-Hulk howled before trying to bring her fist down on Omnirus. At least she tried to, Ultimate XLRWolf sidestepped her easily. "You're gonna have to be quicker than that," he said.

Wolf-Hulk growled at that, before some webbing covered her eyes. "You're not going to make her less angry by antagonizing her," said Spider-Man.

XLRWolf paused. "Good point," he said, dodging another blow.

"So I guess we just let him just keep dodging her until she wears herself out?" suggested Spider-Woman.

Wolf-Hulk turned to them at that. "Puny bugs," she growled.

Ultimate XLRWolf zipped in front of her and said, "Focus on me, won't you?" With that, the turbines on his hips let out twin sonic blasts at her. The wolf snarled at that, before sending electricity in all directions.

"Hmm, bit harder to stop than I thought," said U-XLRWolf, "Be right back." With that, he zipped up one of the tunnels.

"Hey!" called Spider-Woman before they were both knocked flying when Wolf-Hulk clapped her hands.

Two second later, the blue and black blur returned. Wolf-Hulk paused she felt something was shoved up both her nostrils. She sniffed, before falling backwards with a crash, two garlic cloves up her nostrils. "Super smell plus garlic means out like a light," sneered XLRWolf.

"I thought that only worked on vampires," said Spider-Man.

"Anything with a strong sense of smell would be knocked out by that," said XLRWolf, "If I had used horseradish, I might have given her brain damage."

Moonshock reappeared as she shrank down. "Geb dis out bah dose," she managed weakly.

"Allow me," said Spider-Woman, extending two slender tentacles and plucking the cloves out.

Omnirus turned back before he said calmly, "Now then, we can fight...or we can get out of this funhouse."

"How do we know you're not just going to run off with the symbiote as soon as we've found it?" asked Spider-Man.

"You don't. But how much longer do you think you can last here? I doubt Taskmaster will leave real food out for you guys," said Omnirus.

Moonshock grumbled, "Fuzzo has a point. I do not wanna hallucinate you as hamburgers."

"So how are we supposed to get back to him?" asked Spider-Woman, "Trapdoors typically only work one way."

"In the interest of speeding this along and keeping a certain someone from tearing more holes through walls..." said Omnirus before tapping his Omnitrix and shifting into Frankenvine. "Going up," he said before stretching his arms up, ripping the cover off the trapdoor and stretching through it.

"Hey!" snapped Moonshock before yelping as some vines grabbed her and lifted her up.

"Hold onto your fur." snapped Omnirus, before stretching down to grab the Spiders.

Shortly after that, they were back to where they were. "You sure Taskmaster is behind that hidden door?" asked Spider-Woman.

"Why else would there be a trapdoor to keep from going in?" asked Moonshock.

"The kids have a point. It's a bit cliche," said Omnirus, shifting back.

"Either way, I expect Taskmaster has one last surprise in store for us," said Spider-Man.

Moonshock sniffed the air before stomping over to the hidden door and tearing the panel away. "I am not in the mood. TASKMASTER!" she yelled.

They were expecting a control room. Imagine their surprise when the hidden room was an arena. "Congratulations," said Taskmaster's voice, "Very few people ever find this arena."

"TASKMASTER!" yelled Moonshock, looking around.

"No need to shout," said Taskmaster, "I'll be there in a moment. I just need to make one last preparation."

"Prepare?" said Moonshock before feeling something drip on her arm. Moonshock looked up to see a purple and black flowing down from the ceiling. "Oh no," she said before a particularly big glob landed on her face.

"I wanna see what I paid for," said Taskmaster as Moonshockr staggered around, pulling with futility at the spreading symbiote before she began shaking, the symbiote face forming.

"Oh, this isn't good," said Spider-Woman. The symbiote finished covering Moonshock before the black parts lit up yellow.

The symbiote let her long tongue roll out. "Well...thissss is new," she hissed looking at herself before at the group.

"Ok, I'm sure there's a way to get that symbiote off," said Spider-Man.

"I don't think there's an immediate rush," said Omnirus.

The symbiote began to advance before looking at Spider-Woman and backing up with widened eyes. "The one who spawned usss..." it hissed.

Omnirus and Spider-Man looked at Spider-Woman at that, before Omni hissed quietly at her, "Maybe you can tell it to play nice?"

"I don't think you should count on it," whispered Spider-Woman.

The symbiote however looked confused. "Why are you with theesssse humanssss?" it asked, advancing suspiciously.

"Well, these are my friends," said Spider-Woman. Omnirus gave her an odd look. "Ok, more like allies," said Spider-Woman.

The symbiote hissed at that. "The queen does not need friends..." she hissed, her scythe blade forming.

"Uh, that's quite a scythe you got there," said Spider-Woman nervously.

"Ssscccyyyttthhheee..." hissed the symbiote, "We like the sssound of that. Scythe will be our name."

"Interesting," said Taskmaster from above before Scythe shrieked and lunged at the group.

Of course, Omnirus was the first target so he quickly transformed, becoming a ghostly fish-like creature in chains. Scythe leaped right through Ghostjaws. "Intangibility for the wing," said Ghostjaws.

Scythe turned to hiss before firing a bolt of lightning at Ghostjaws. Ghostjaws dived into the floor before coming up behind Spider-Man. "I hope you've got a plan for this," he said.

"We can't use sound, not with Spider-Woman," said Spider-Man, avoiding a spine of symbiote shot at him.

"Too bad I can't just possess her," said Ghostjaws.

"Can you?" asked Spider-Man.

"I just said I can't," said Ghostjaws.

"Why not?" asked Spider-Man.

"Because there's already a parasite on her and that would make the head too crowded..." Ghostjaws paused as he thought it over.

Scythe laughed. "Can't hurt me?" she taunted, before lunging at Spider-Woman.

Spider-Woman extended her arms into large shields to block Scythe. "Guys, a little help here!" she snapped.

"Nobody can save you from us, traitor!" hissed Scythe, pounding away at the shields, before Ghostjaws bit down on her shoulder from behind. "Ouch! That actually hurts!" snapped Scythe.

"Well these teeth aren't just for my good looks," said Ghostjaws, "Now clear your head."

"Why would I-" started Scythe before Ghostjaws ghosted into the symbiote-covered werewolf.

Scythe staggered back, clawing at her head and hissing. "Out of our head! This host is MINE!" she roared.

"Only if you can explain why you're hitting yourself," said Ghostjaws's voice before Scythe punched herself in the face.

"STOP THAT!" hissed Scythe. Then her hand grabbed her nose and started pulling hard. The symbiote hissed angrily at that before starting to concentrate.

However, a tear opened up in the back of the head and Moonshock's face popped out of it. "Ok, this is way too close for comfort for me," she said.

The symbiote began trying to return at that, before Moonshock's eyes flickered to green. "It's no picnic in here either, Lynch," she snapped in Ghostjaws's voice.

"Why can't you possess this slime?" asked Moonshock.

"Doesn't work that way," said Ghostjaws, "You need to stick with me if you want this jelly off."

"Fine...just no killing my friends," snapped Moonshock, her eyes flickering back to green before she got a smug grin, before Ghostjaws said through her, "Ok, now get off, you sentient licorice."

"You can't make me," hissed Scythe.

"Yes...I...can..." hissed Ghostjaws, more of scythe coming off.

"How are you doing this?" demanded Scythe.

"Sheer willpower, which Moonshock doesn't have enough on her own," said Ghostjaws.

"Hey!" snapped Moonshock, one of her eyes blazing yellow.

Then Spider-Man shot a line of webbing at Scythe and said, "Let's speed this up, shall we?"

"No! Get off us!" snapped Scythe, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman pulling while Moonshock and Ghostjaws pulled the other way. It was too much before Scythe gave out. The slimy creature got yanked off and splattered against a wall. The symbiote bubbled something that could possibly be translated as 'ow'.

"Impressive..." said Taskmaster, a container grabbing the symbiote.

"And that would be my cue to leave," said Ghostjaws before exiting Moonshock's body, flying over, and grabbing the container. He paused briefly before saying, "Thanks for the help, losers."

"Hey, you can't just-" started Spider-Woman before Ghostjaws and the container turned invisible.

"He...can..." gasped Moonshock, getting her breath back.

"Well, that's disappointing. But then, there's not much you can do with a symbiote that picky," said Taskmaster.

"That's not all we're here for," said Spider-Man, "Fury wants his cannon back."

"Then by all means...try and take it," said Taskmaster before an orange beam lanced out and almost hit the gang.

"Aha, now I have you," said Moonshock before charging towards where the beam came from. A second later, an orange blast knocked her back and skidded her across the arena. "Ow..." she groaned, her chest smoking.

"You ok?" asked Spider-Man.

"Do you guys have super-endurance, rapid healing factors, or invulnerability?" asked Moonshock.

"No," said Spider-Man.

"Then you might want to avoid being blasted," said Moonshock.

Another blast shot down at that, barely missing Spider-Woman and blowing a hole in the wall. "Handy little toy Fury had made," said Taskmaster, "Pity he was so careless with it." He fired another shot at that.

"Ok, any suggestions on how to get close?" asked Spider-Woman.

"Use Moonshock as a shield?" suggested Spider-Man.

"I heard that," snapped Moonshock.

* * *

Omnirus grinned as he emerged from the cave, throwing the canister up in the air and catching it. "Eaaasy money," he chuckled.

Just then, a tiny version of himself with a white robe, bird wings, and halo appeared beside him. "Aren't you forgetting someone?" he asked.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to be part of a pair?" asked Omnirus, "Where's the other guy?"

"I dealt with him," said the little angel, holding a used roll of duct tape. "Well, since I'm here, you know what that means," said the little angel.

"That I've gone too long without real food and having hunger hallucinations?" asked Omnirus.

"No, you left those poor heroes to face pure horror and traps, while you just think of money, and after they helped you too," scolded the angel.

"I got what I came for. And it saves them the trouble of having to take this symbiote back with them," said Omnirus, "Surely they can take on a guy who looks like a washed-out grim reaper."

"But do you not forget the weapon he used on you?" scolded the angel.

"What weapon?" asked Omnirus.

"You know, the cannon he blasted you with and made you lose an afternoon," said the little angel.

"Oh, that weapon," said Omnirus.

"They will surely perish," said the angel dramatically.

Omnirus said sarcastically, "Oh dear, what a tragedy." before yelping as the angel grabbed him by the collar.

"You're going back to help them...NOOOOW!"

Omnirus blinked and the angel disappeared. "I really need to change my diet," said Omnirus. He was about to continue before seeing a used-up roll of duct tape in the grass. "You know...I think I'm gonna help," he said in a nervous voice.

* * *

Meanwhile, Moonshock and the Spider-Couple had been dodging blasts for quite a while. "Doesn't he ever need to reload or wait for it to cool down?" asked Spider-Man.

"It's Asgardian tech," snapped Moonshock, sending a bolt of lightning.

"As such, is throwing lightning at it a good idea?" asked Spider-Man.

"You have a better idea?" snapped Moonstruck before a blast hit her.

"I could do this all day," gloated Taskmaster.

"Wow, you guys really are pathetic enough to need my help," said a familiar voice.

Moonshock looked to see Ghostjaws had returned. "If you think you're getting in me again..." she growled.

"I'm not, you're not my type," said Ghostjaws, "But there is a new trick I've picked I wanted to show." He tapped his Omnitrix and transformed. His body became longer and more sinewy, becoming black with purple fins and markings. The claws and fangs became much longer and now his esca was replaced by a long dorsal fin that glowed dark purple at the end. Overall, he now resembled a floating viperfish with arms.

"Ultimate Ghostjaws," he sneered, before floating up through the air, like he was swimming in it. "Take your bessst shot, skull boy," he hissed.

"Oh, so you're just going to turn invisible or intangible?" asked Taskmaster.

"Actually, there's other trick I have," said Ultimate Ghostjaws. Then the lights on his dorsal fin and along his body lit up for a second. The next second, everything plunged into darkness.

Moonshock was heard yelling, "YOU JERK!" Taskmaster trying his lights to no avail.

"Whoa, this isn't your everyday darkness," said Spider-Man, trying to turn on his mask's night vision.

"Course it's not." sneered U-Ghostjaws's voice from all around.

"Where are you?!" snapped Taskmaster.

"Ah, your photographic reflexes aren't much good if you can't see, can you?" sneered U-Ghostjaws. His gun was pulled out his hands at that, a clunk revealing it was now down in the arena. "Wanna try fighting up close?" asked U-Ghostjaws. Then Taskmaster felt a weightlessness around him, as if he was going through the floor. Then he found himself falling.

The light came flooding back at that, blinding everyone for a second, though Moonshock ran forward, grabbing the cannon. "Not so tough without your fancy gun, are you?" asked Moonshock.

"I've seen all I needed to see," said Taskmaster before striking at her legs.

Moonstruck fell backwards with a 'oof', though keeping an iron grip on the blaster.

However, now Spider-Woman was able to grab Taskmaster with her tentacles.

"Nice try," he sneered, dropping a small orb that began to whine.

Spider-Man shot some webbing at the orb and said, "Not this time." He then shot another webline at Taskmaster's back, resulting in the orb getting stuck to him.

The orb exploded at that, from an overload, knocking him into U-Ghostjaws's hands. "Going somewhere?" he hissed

"This would almost be unsporting...except I always come prepared," said Taskmaster before taking a UV light from his belt and shining it on U-Ghostjaws.

U-Ghostjaws shielded his face with a hiss, Taskmaster smirking before a whining noise got his attention. "Think it's funny, do you?" Moonshock snapped, readying the cannon.

"Hey, watch where you point that thing," said U-Ghostjaws.

"You can turn intangible. You gonna surrender, you move-copying nutter or do I check to see if you regenerate?" snapped Moonshock.

"I would not test her," said Spider-Man, "She's had a hard day."

Taskmaster grumbled before slowly raising his hands.

"Now, just to make sure, we have gotten everything, right?" asked Spider-Woman.

"Well, we got Taskmaster, the Destroyer Cannon, Omnirus can hand over the Scythe symbiote..." said Spider-Man. Just then, Ultimate Ghostjaws disappeared. "Well, two out of three's good enough," said Spider-Man.

"Agreed, he'll never get it past NSC customs," muttered Moonshock, before saying, "Let's just meet up with Silvana and go home so I can eat an aspirin the size of a jumbotron."

* * *

Outside of the base, they noticed a lack of Silvana. However, they did find a note.

"Dear Guys, got hungry and smelt a decent meal by the road," read Moonshock.

"You know, I think I saw a diner while we were flying here," said Spider-Woman.

"Oh dear God," muttered Moonshock.

* * *

The diner was pretty easy to find. It seemed pretty normal, except for the sheriff car in a tree nearby.

"Something seems oddly familiar about this," said Moonshock.

Someone, apparently the diner's chef, ran up. "Hey...you Spider-Man?" he snapped at Spider-Man, "You gonna help get those freeloaders outta my diner?" Moonshock however had walked in, not surprised to see Omnirus's henchmen at a table, several pie tins around them. What she was surprised to see Silvana with them.

"Uh, yeah, did you try turning the hose on them?" asked Spider-Man.

"Not since the cyborg tossed Sheriff tankersons cruiser in the tree," said the diner owner, adding "That and that lizard ate the hose nozzle." pointing to Silvana, who was eating, with every sign of enjoyment, a cup.

Moonshock covered her face and said, "I really need to teach her table manners."

The experiments all tensed up as Silvana waved at Moonshock. "Hi," she called, saying, "You wanna try some of this saucepan?" The experiments looked worried.

"Ok, young lady, you've eaten enough of other people's property for one day," said Moonshock.

"But they said it was all covered...though I did wonder about the car in a tree," said Silvana innocently. Moonstruck reminded herself that, in dragon years, Silvana was barely a teen and had _literally_ come from another time.

"I never said that," snapped Cyber before grinning wildly at Moonstruck, "Hey, doggy, dinner's on you!" before he threw his half-eaten pie in her face, Leroy pulling one of the plasma pistols he hid with his extra arms and shooting an extinguisher, causing white extinguisher smoke everywhere. Of course, as soon as the extinguisher foam had cleared, the experiments were long gone.

Silvana blinked before slurping the foam on her face up. "I don't think they paid," she said thoughtfully.

* * *

Haze, meanwhile, was far away, waiting near his ship and waiting for communication from his other employer. He wasn't disappointed as his ship's comm came to life. "Mr. Mancer, we've been over your report and my employer wants you to actually confirm it," said the black-suited humanoid on the other end.

"What more needs to be said?" asked Haze offhandedly.

"Did you or did you not see this person?" said the man, an image of Moonshock appearing on Taskmaster's CCTV.

"Seen her? She threw me through a wall," said Haze.

"Very well. My employer is adding an extra million to your payment," said the officer, adding, "Do I need to recommend you lose this frequency?"

"I know my business," said Mancer, "Don't know why you'd be interested in her anyways."

"That's not for you. Don't call us again," said the officer, the line going dead.

"I am never workin' with those weirdos again," Mancer muttered.

* * *

Mancer wasn't the only one handing something in...

"For once in your lives, behave yourselves. This isn't just any authority figure that's coming," said Omnirus.

"Yeah, yeah...the Virks have some new top dog after Taleth vanished," said Leroy smugly.

Dark Start adding, "I heard she's a real nutcase."

"She doesn't take disrespect very well," said Omnirus.

"And she still hired us?" said Cyber.

Omnirus was about to object before saying, "Maybe she's not that good at judging character."

Suddenly, a portal opened up in front of the group. "Neat," said Cyber before taking a picture.

Four Shar-Virk troopers walked out, aiming their staffs at the group, before a fifth figure walked through.

The fifth Shar Virk was oddly enough in human form, if you didn't count her horns or her draconic eyes. She was wearing Shar-Virk armor that looked higher-grade than the trooper's, including shoulder pauldrons shaped like dragon heads.

Omnirus's brain meanwhile was going through the following _'That can't be Lumina. If it was her parents would have killed her by now for letting her dress up like the Dark Lord Sauron's cousin...nope...'_ before his mouth said "Ma'am."

The female chuckled, "Tenebra will do...or your future overlord."

"Uh...you climbed up the ranks in record time," said Omnirus.

"Yes, I did," said Tenebra smugly, before her smile fell, "Now then, to business. My spies told me that some local villainess here created a very interesting symbiote. One in your possession."

"Yes, you'll not likely find another like it," said Omnirus.

"Show me," said Tenebra darkly.

Dark Start brought out the container, in which the purple and black slime raged against its sides.

"Check it," said Tenebra, one of the troopers running his wristcomp over it.

"Genuine...some DNA abnormalities, but nothing we can't fix," he said.

Tenebra smiled and picking up the container. "You are gonna be so useful," she said happily.

Cyber said, "Ok...how much do we get paid?" before he gulped as all four experiments each got a blue laser dot on them, the guards aiming.

"Hmm...that depends...how much are your lives worth?" Tenebra said with a chuckle.

"Not even a gratuity?" asked Leroy.

"Do you even know what a gratuity is?" asked Dark Start.

Tenebra said, "You're not getting a penny. I'm being generous by just letting you live."

"You're certainly filling out the criteria for evil overlord," said Omnirus.

"Evil Empress," corrected Tenebra, walking back through the portal, the guards keeping their aim till they followed.

Once the portal closed, Omnirus snapped, "If I ever have to deal with her again, it'll be too soon."

"Wait...what if the Lynches find out who we sold that goop to?" added Leroy, Omnirus going bug-eyed.

"Hopefully they'll forget about it. There's plenty of things to keep their minds off of it," said Omnirus.

"What could possibly do that?" scoffed Dark Start.

* * *

Chloe walked through the Triskelion, headed for the medical bay. She was in a good mood. She was at least 50% confident that Fury was happy to have the cannon back and hopefully her brother was ok too.

She walked in and said, "Hey Matt, hope your insides..."

She trailed off as she saw who was taking care of Matt. Instead of Morph, it was Kala. And while Kala was dressed as a nurse, she didn't seem quite the kind of nurse who practiced medicine. Considering her uniform's plunging neckline and the amount of legs she was showing. "Oh, Chloe, you're back," said Kala a bit awkwardly.

"Kala...Matt's meant to be recovering," Chloe growled.

"I am recovering," said Matt, "I'm feeling much better. I just needed some old-fashioned TLC."

Chloe's eye twitched at that. "Now, I assure you, we haven't done anything-" started Kala.

Chloe just held up a hand to stop her. "I've been covered with a symbiote, possessed by a ghost fish, and taken a pie to the face," said Chloe, "So I am going to back to the base and take a very long, exfoliating shower."

As soon as Chloe left, Kala asked, "Do you want to continue…"

"No, the mood's definitely gone now," said Matt flatly.

"Right, you need me to warm up your bed or-"

"Kala, let's save this for when I'm well enough to be back at the bunker," said Matt.

Kala pouted and muttered, "You're no fun."

* * *

It's a new year which means a new chapter. We see the return of Taskmaster and the weapon he stole earlier. And this is the last we'll be seeing of Haze Mancer. The symbiote named Scythe won't be appearing again in this story, but it will be appearing in later fics. The next set of chapters will be another trilogy, though they're still be worked on. The wait for these shouldn't be as long. Keep an eye out for them and please review.


End file.
